The Littlest Angel
by Eileen
Summary: What was it like to grow up as the youngest angel in Heaven? This is the story of the last of the angels, Castiel, and the family who raised him: his favorite brother, Gabriel; bossy older brother Michael; stern but loving brother Raphael; and the troublemaker, Lucifer.
1. Angel Baby

The birth of a new angel is something that happens only once in a very great while. Many, many thousands of years ago, all of Heaven rejoiced as a new angel was brought forth. God called all His children together to give them the good news.

"This is your newest brother," He said, cradling a tiny baby in His arms. "His name is Castiel."

"Ooh!" All the angels crowded in for a better look. Castiel had hair the color of midnight, eyes as blue as the sea, and tiny black wings on his back. He gazed up at his brothers and sisters before closing his eyes and settling down for a nap.

"And who among you," God asked, "will help me take care of him? For I am very busy creating the Earth. One of you must teach him all he needs to know."

"I can't," said Michael, the oldest archangel. "I'm busy training the other angels to fight." Michael was the commander of his Father's legions.

"I can't," said Raphael, the second archangel. "I'm teaching the fledglings to fly."

God looked at the third archangel, Lucifer, who pouted and turned away. "I don't wanna," he said. Lucifer had what his Father called an attitude problem.

From the back of the crowd of angels came the voice of the youngest archangel, Gabriel. "I'll do it, Father! I'll take care of him!"

Everyone took a step back.

"Oh, no, not him!" said Michael. "He's irresponsible!"

"He's disrespectful," said Raphael.

"He's a pain in the-"

"Lucifer!" his Father admonished him.

"Well, he is!"

Gabriel pushed his way through his brothers and sisters until he was standing in front of Father. "Hello, Castiel," he said, stroking the baby angel's tiny black wings. "You and I are gonna have such fun!"

"That," said Raphael, "is what we're afraid of."

Gabriel stuck his tongue out at him.

"Gabriel." Father leaned down and looked him in the eye. "Babies are a big responsibility. You need to make sure he's safe and warm and happy. He won't be big enough to play with you for a long time, but right now he needs you more than ever. Can I count on you to take good care of him?"

"Yes, Father. I'll do a really good job!"

"Very well." Father leaned down and placed the tiny bundle in Gabriel's arms. "I trust your brothers will help you if you ask them."

"Of course we will," said Michael.  
"I suppose," said Raphael.

"Yeah, whatever," said Lucifer.

Father really needed to have a talk with Lucifer.

* * *

It would take many, many years for Castiel's grace to grow enough to sustain him. Until then, the baby angel needed to eat, and sleep, and be changed.

Gabriel was good at watching little Cassie sleep. He would cover him with a blanket that had pictures on it of all the animals that were to come. Sometimes he would whisper the animals' names in the baby's ear. One day, when he was big enough, Castiel would go down to Earth and see them for himself.

He wasn't quite as good at feeding him, but he managed. Michael had taught him how to hold the baby in the crook of one arm while holding the bottle with the other. Gabriel was still so small that sometimes he couldn't hold the baby well enough, and he'd have to put the bottle down and grab him before he fell, but he eventually worked out a system where he wrapped his arm around Castiel's body and leaned him back against his (Gabriel's) body, and fed him that way.

Changing him, on the other hand, was something he didn't like at all. Baby poop was messy and stinky and got **everywhere**. He always had to get help changing the baby's diaper.

By the time Castiel was old enough to sit up by himself, Gabriel had worked out his routine: early in the morning (for he was old enough not to need sleep now), he fed and changed the baby, and then brought him to Angel School with him. Castiel slept in a little cot while Gabriel learned his lessons. When he woke up, Gabriel would give him another bottle, check his diaper, and then put him down again. One of the other angels (it was usually, but not always, Raphael) would watch over the baby while Gabriel had horn practice in the soundproof studio. It didn't matter; Castiel was a champion sleeper. Not even the loudest noise would ever wake him up.

After horn practice, Gabriel brought his baby brother back to the nursery, fed and changed him one last time, and then put him down for the night. All night long, Gabriel sat by him, ready at a moment's notice if the baby woke.

He never did. He was such a good baby.

* * *

One day, Gabriel was coming home from horn practice when he was met by another young angel. Balthazar was a fledgling whose wings were only just starting to grow in.

"Gabey? Can you help me? I lost my ball."

"Okay, sure, Balth, where did you lose it?"

"Over there," he said, pointing to a very dark, very thorny section of the garden. "It rolled under a bush and I couldn't get it. Pweeeese?"

Had he known what was to come, Gabriel would have gone and found someone else to help retrieve the wayward ball. He had to get home to feed the baby, after all. Little Castiel was counting on him. But Gabriel never hesitated to help one of his brothers or sisters, and so he found himself crawling under thorn branches to reach the ball. Just a little further . . . got it!

"I got it!" he called out, and Balthazar squealed with joy. Then Gabriel tried backing out the way he had come. He slid a few feet backwards, and then . . . stuck.

"Oh, man!" His wing was caught on a very large, very thick thorn, and try as he might, he couldn't get it free. He tried to wriggle forward, and he couldn't. He couldn't go back, either. He was stuck!

There was only one thing to do. "Balthazar," he called out, "go get help!"

"Why?"

"Cause I'm stuck! I can't get out! Please go get someone!"

"Okay." There was the rustle of wings as the young angel flew away. The next thing Gabriel heard was his brother Raphael's voice.

"You've really got yourself stuck, haven't you, squirt? How did you manage that?"

"I was getting Balthy's ball for him."

"Your wings are caught here, here, here, and here. Don't worry, I'll free them for you." There was some pulling and tugging, but Raphael was gentle, and it didn't hurt at all. "All right, try it now."

Gabriel wriggled and found that he was able to slip free. "Wow, thanks, Raph!"

"Tell me something, little brother: who is watching Castiel while you're here?"

"What? Oh, no!" He'd forgotten all about the baby. "I gotta go, bye!"

He raced back home, hoping that baby Cas was okay. He was probably screaming his head off right now. He might be hungry or wet or both. But when Gabriel entered his suite of rooms, he heard nothing. No crying. As he drew closer, though, he could hear the creak of the rocking chair and someone singing softly.

" . . . lay your weary head to rest, don't you cry no more."

The person had his back to him, but Gabriel saw black clothes. Only one person in Heaven wore black right now.

"Lucifer?"

"I gave him four ounces," the older brother whispered. "I burped him, I changed him, and now he's just about ready to go down. You had a good day, I hope?"

"Uh huh. I got stuck in some thorn bushes trying to get Balthazar's ball."

"Let me see. Spread your wings."

Gabriel turned around and spread his golden wings wide.

"Yeah, I can see a couple of missing feathers here and here. Don't worry, they'll grow back." He handed the baby over and kissed his younger brother on the top of the head. "Take care, Precious."

"Thanks, Luci."

"You tell anyone about this, I'll kill you."

Gabriel looked alarmed.

Lucifer grinned and sputtered laughter. "I'm kidding! I wouldn't really kill you. But I mean it. Don't tell them, okay? You'll ruin my rep."

He slipped out of the room and was gone.

Gabriel laid baby Castiel in his crib, kissing him on the forehead. "Night, Cassie. Love you, baby."


	2. Cool

Gabriel stood before a door that was so black it looked like a hole. Or would have, if it weren't for the bright yellow words painted across it: KEEP OUT! THIS MEANS YOU!

He knocked twice. "Luci? Are you here? Please help me!"

In his arms, baby Castiel cried, his face red and wet with tears. He'd been crying all night, and Gabriel didn't know what to do to help him. So he'd come to get help.

The door burst open. "What do you want, you little-" Lucifer snapped, before noticing that no one else was around. He dropped the act and said, "Come in, squirt. What's wrong with the baby?"

"I don't know! He won't stop crying! I've fed him, I've changed him, I've rocked him, I've sang to him . . . nothing helps!"

Lucifer pulled his younger brother inside quickly and shut the door. "Did you ask anyone else?"

"Mikey was busy, and Raph didn't know."

"Okay, let me see him."

Gabriel handed the baby over. Lucifer only had to touch him to know what the problem was. "He's hot," he said. "You've been keeping him wrapped up warm?"

"Yeah, Mikey said to."

"Well, I think you've been overdoing it a bit, squirt. He's overheated. Don't worry, I can fix it. Bring me a bowl of cold water and a clean cloth."

Gabriel did so. "Whatcha gonna do, Luci?"

"Watch me, kiddo." He carefully dipped the cloth in the water and wrung it out. "Make sure it's just damp, not dripping. Then you do this." He took the wet cloth and ran it over the baby's face, down onto his neck and chest, and over his arms. Castiel's cries faded to whimpers.

"Is that better, baby? Huh?" Lucifer repeated the action a few more times, until the baby was quiet at last. "See? It's that easy. Just keep doing that if his temperature doesn't go down right away. And don't wrap him up so tight!"

Gabriel looked down. Baby Cas wasn't crying anymore, and his face was no longer bright red. The young angel placed two fingers on the baby's cheek, and found that it was a lot cooler. "Thanks, Luci."

"Any time, precious boy." He walked Gabriel to the door. When he opened it, he saw Ezekiel and Raphael at the end of the corridor. "Now get outta here, brat!" he snapped, but with a private wink that belied his harsh tone.

"I'm sorry," Gabriel murmured, playing his part. "Sorry, Luci."

"Yeah, whatever. What are you lookin' at?" he shouted at Raph and Zeke, who turned away.

Gabriel went back to his room. Cas had fallen asleep in his arms, so he put the baby down in his crib. He spread the animal blanket over him, but didn't tuck it in tight.

"Love you, baby. Luci loves you too, even if he's too cool to show it. 'Cept when we're alone. Why's he gotta be like that, huh? Growing up is weird. Don't you grow up, Cassie. Don't ever grow up. Be my baby forever and ever."

Of course Gabriel knew that babies have to grow up. He just wished that his family could be like they were before, when Dad was around and Michael and Luci weren't mad at each other.

"My baby," he repeated, stroking the baby's now-cooler cheek. "Forever my baby."


	3. Please Don't Pet the Dinosaurs

"Now remember," Michael said as the last of the young angels alighted on the surface of the Earth, "everyone stay together. Stick with your buddy. Don't go wandering off."

"Hold my hand, Cassie," Gabriel said to his youngest brother. Castiel was no longer a baby, but he still didn't have his full grace yet. His wings lay flat against his back like a fluffy black cloak. The fledgling was technically too young to come along on this field trip; Michael had allowed it on the condition that Gabriel stay by the child's side at all times. "I'm not babysitting both of you," the elder archangel had said.

Right now, Castiel was looking around with an expression of utter amazement. "Lookit! Look, Gabey! Iss so pwetty!"

"You should have seen it when it was all muck, squirt. Come back in another few million years. It'll be even better then."

A huge flying creature swooped down and plucked something from the treetops. "Ooh. Whassat?"

"Let's go find out." The group was moving toward the edge of a cliff that looked out over a broad valley.

Michael stopped them about ten feet from the edge. "This is what we've come to see," he said. "These magnificent creatures that our Father has made the rulers of the Earth. One day, they will be called . . . dinosaurs!"

"Ooh!" the angels chorused.

Far below them, gigantic creatures thundered across the landscape. Some of them had huge spines sticking out of their skin. Some had horns, or bony plates on their heads. Some had long, long necks that they used to eat the leaves at the top of the trees.

"Can we pet them?" asked an angel named Anna.

"We are here to observe only," said Raphael, who was partnered with Lucifer because Michael wasn't speaking to Luci again. There had been a lot of that lately; Gabriel didn't like it at all. "Keep your distance and don't interfere. So no, you can't pet the dinosaurs."

"Awww!"

"You can go exploring," said Michael, "as long as you don't go too far from the group. Stick with your partner. We meet back here when the sun-that's that bright thing up in the sky-drops down to the top of that ridge over there." He pointed across the valley to another mountain range. "Have fun, all of you!"

The angels squealed and ran off in a thousand different directions at once.

"Remember to collect your samples!" Raphael called out. "If anyone needs another copy of the list, come see me!"

Gabriel had the list in his pocket. He took it out and unfolded it, studying it closely. "Okay, Cassie, we've got to find a fern, a shell, a rock, and-Cassie? What are you doing?"

The little angel was pulling away, trying to follow some fuzzy flying creature. "Buzz buzz! Lookit, Gabe!"

"Yeah. It's not on the list. C'mon, let's go find our fern-"

"Buzzy, come back!" Castiel broke free of his older brother's grip and ran off after the flyer, not even looking where he was going. Gabriel sighed and flew off after the child, catching up to him at the edge of a small pond.

"Castiel, come here! You know you're not s'posed to run off!"

"Wanna see the buzzy!"

"We can't touch any of the animals. Mikey said so." Then he looked around him. "Cassie, you're a genius! Look what we found!" All along the edge of the water, there were ferns. "Item one, check. Cas, leave the buzzy alone."

"Buzzy, buzzy, come play wif me." The fledgling stretched out a finger, but the creature flew away. "Bye, buzzy."

"C'mon, we've still gotta find a shell, a rock, and a scale. Cassie! Castiel, come over here now!"

Castiel had waded into the water and was reaching up for a tall plant when his foot came down on something that at first Gabriel thought was a bit of vegetation. When the enormous head rose up out of the water, he realized that the thing Cas had stepped on was, in fact, the tip of the creature's tail. And it had a lot of teeth.

"Cassie, no!" He grabbed the child and flew off with him before those sharp teeth could close around the young angel. When they were a safe distance away, he alighted and set Castiel down on his feet. "Are you okay?"

"Uh huh. Wha' wazzat?"

"I don't know, but I think we'd better steer clear of the watering hole for a while. He's mad cause you stepped on his tail."

"I sorry."

"It's okay, buddy. Let's go see if we can find a shell, a rock, or a scale."

They went off in another direction, and along the way, they met up with Anna and Naomi, who were collecting grass samples.

"Ooh! You got a fern?" Anna came over and looked at the tall fern in Gabriel's hand, waving slightly in the breeze. "Where?"

"Down by the water," the archangel told her. "Be careful, though. We kinda stepped on something's tail, and he's probably still mad."

"Big teeth," Cas said.

"Did you scrape any scales off him?" Naomi asked.

"We were too busy getting away!" Gabriel shook his head at her, and then he remembered something. "Some of the dinosaurs shed their scales by rubbing up against a big tree. So look at the base of a tree for some."

"Thanks, Gabriel! C'mon, Anna, let's go find a big tree!"

"We'll come with you. Then we'll mark it so everyone else can find it."

There was a big tree a short distance away, and scattered on the ground around it were hundreds, maybe thousands, of shimmering scales. "We only need one," said Gabriel, and he searched for the biggest and most colorful one he could find. When he had it, he reached up and scratched a particular sigil on the tree. It wouldn't hurt the tree, and the animals wouldn't see it, but to every angel in the area, it shone like a neon sign reading SCALES ARE HERE!

"Now we just need a shell and a rock."

"Shell anna rock, shell anna rock . . ." Castiel sang.

"And they have to look like the pictures," said Naomi. "You can't just pick up any old rock. See how it has bubbles in it?"

Gabriel read the line of Enochian symbols under the picture. "It says this rock is found near a volcano. Where's a volcano around here?"

"Let's find the shell first. Come on, you two," she said to Anna and Castiel, who were chasing each other through the tall grass. "Creatures with shells like in the picture are found near water. And water is . . . that way." She pointed off toward the west.

"Don' step onna tail," Castiel said as he fell in step beside his older brother.

"That's right, Cas. Don't step on anything's tail. Let's all watch where we're going, okay?"

They set off to find the water, which turned out to be a rushing river. Cas started to run toward it, but Gabriel held him back.

"Wanna play inna water!"

"No, Cassie! Remember what happened the last time you played in the water. Stay out here. This is where the shells are."

And it was true; lining the soft sand along the riverbank were hundreds of glimmering shells, cast off by tiny aquatic creatures who came here to mate and then die. Gabriel picked out the two best shells, gave one to Naomi, and then sent up a signal to the others that this was where the shells were.

"On to the volcano!" he shouted, pumping his fist in the air.

Along the way, they passed a bunch of ferns growing at the base of a tree. Gabriel plucked one so that Naomi and Anna would have a fern, too. All they needed now was a rock from a volcano. It shouldn't be that hard to get, should it?

"Gabe? Whassa vo'cano?" Castiel asked.

"It's a big mountain that's mad all the time," said Naomi, the know-it-all. "It spews really hot rocks and stuff."

"Should we be getting close to that?" Gabriel asked in alarm.

"It's not active right now! They wouldn't let us near it if it wasn't safe!"

"Well, sor-ry!"

"Don't say sorry like you don't mean it!"

The four of them soon found that they weren't the first ones to find the volcano. Two young angels named Zachariah and Samandriel were already there, searching for their samples at the base of the volcano.

"Hi Zach! Hi Sammy! Find the rock yet?"

Zachariah looked over his shoulder at the new arrivals. "Nope. Lots of rocks here, but not like the one in the picture."

"Can we help look?" Gabriel pointed up into the sky, where the sun was slowly dipping down towards the top of the ridge. "We don't got a lot of time left."

"All we need's the rock. We got the other stuff."

"Us, too. They gotta be here somewhere, right? Cassie, come help me look for the rock. Cas?"

"Buzzy!" Castiel saw another of the flying insects zooming by and went running after it.

"Castiel! Come back here! Cas!" Gabriel saw that his younger brother wasn't listening, and he tossed the rock samples he was holding onto the ground. "Be right back."

He flew off until he caught up with the child and grabbed him. "Cas, you can't go running off like that! You could get lost, and then we'll get in trouble! What if the big monster comes back?"

Castiel hung his head. "Sowwy, Gabe."

"Okay. C'mon, let's go look for our rock. Then you can play."

Cas' foot struck a rock and sent it flying through the air. As it landed, Gabriel noticed that it had bubbles on it. He bent and picked it up.

"Wow, Cassie, you found the rock! Any more of those?"

"I dunno."

"Let's look around and see. Hey guys!" he called out. "We found one of those rocks over here! Maybe there's more!"

The other youngsters came running, and they found more of the bubbly rocks scattered around in the grass and under some wide, flat leaves. Naomi sent up the sigil this time; the sun was just above the top of the ridge now, and they would have to head back soon.

Gabriel was at the back of the small group, and he thought Castiel had run on ahead, which was all right because the rest of the angels would keep him with them. He relaxed for the first time in this strangely beautiful place and looked around at the colorful vegetation and the even more colorful animals darting here and there through the landscape. Most of them were too small to hurt him, and took no notice of him anyway.

It wasn't until he and the others reached the meetup point that he realized that Cas wasn't with them. He hadn't come back with them. Gabriel frantically flitted from angel to angel, asking if they'd seen little Castiel.

"Wasn't he with you?" Balthazar asked. "Have you managed to lose him?"

"This isn't funny! We've gotta find him!"

"I'm telling Michael."

"No! I mean, I'm sure I'll find him. He's around here somewhere."

But he wasn't. Gabriel retraced his steps all the way back to the volcano, and Cassie was nowhere to be found. He wasn't by the watering hole, or the river. He wasn't **anywhere**.

Michael was gonna **kill** him.

He found the older archangels lounging on a big rock a short distance away from everyone else, where they could keep an eye on the younger kids while still able to talk privately. "Luci," he said, "I've lost Castiel."

"What?" Lucifer slid down off the rock and came over to his younger brother. "How did you lose him?"

"I don't know! I thought he was with the rest of us, but he wasn't, and now he isn't anywhere! I need to find him, now!"

"We'll find him, kiddo. How far could he get?"

"This particular child?" said Raphael. "You'd be surprised. He's fast for his size. We need to split up and search before Michael comes back-"

"Too late," said Gabriel, as a familiar shadow fell over them.

"What is going on?" Michael intoned in his angry older brother voice.

"We've sort of lost Castiel," said Lucifer. "But don't worry, we'll find him."

"You've **lost** him?"

"Temporarily misplaced. He's around here somewhere."

"This is your fault," Michael said, turning his fury upon Gabriel. "You were supposed to be watching him!"

"I was! I thought he was with us, but he wasn't!"

"I told you he was too young to come along! But you begged me: please, Mikey, please, he'll be good, I'll watch him every single minute. And I gave in. And look what happened!"

"Leave him alone!" Lucifer stepped in front of the younger archangel. "He's done his best all day long. Don't blame this all on him!"

"Stay out of this, Luci!"

"Stop acting like a jerk, and I will!"

"Enough!" Raphael intervened before the argument could turn physical. "This is not helping! We need to be looking for the child, not blaming each other!"

The two elder archangels looked away for a moment. "You're right," said Michael. "Truce?"

"Yeah, I guess so," said Lucifer. "C'mon, let's go rally the troops."

After an inspiring speech (Michael was very good at inspiring speeches), the angels all spread out and searched for the little lost angel.

"Castiel!"  
"Cas! Cassie, where are you?"

"You don't s'pose a dinosaur ate him, do you?" asked Balthazar.

Gabriel gave him a look that would have shattered a mountain.

"Sorry. I'm sure he's okay."

They looked in every possible place a toddler angel could hide: behind trees, under tall bushes, near a shade-giving rock (where they startled off a family of orange and blue lizards who hissed at them but went on their way). No sign of Castiel anywhere.

"He's gotta be here," Gabriel moaned. He was close to tears again, but trying to hang on for the sake of the younger kids. "I should've held his hand, but I thought he'd be okay . . ."

Suddenly a sigil appeared in the air, glimmering and glowing for all to see. "I found him, I found him!" Anna called out.

The other angels all came running. Castiel was curled up at the base of a tall tree, fast asleep.

"I got him." Gabriel went and scooped the child up in his arms. "You shoulda told me you wanted a nap, baby."

Suddenly the other angels took a step back as the top of the tree started shaking. Then the branches parted, and the huge dinosaur from the watering hole thundered into the clearing.

"Stand back," Michael warned the others. He drew his sword. The blade gleamed with heavenly light, and most of the young angels covered their eyes. Gabriel kept his open, though. He wanted to see what happened next.

" ** _BEGONE, BEAST_**!" Michael proclaimed in a voice like thunder.

The dinosaur yelped and turned tail, fleeing back to the safety of the watering hole. The young angels breathed a sigh of relief.

Castiel hadn't even stirred. That kid could sleep through anything. Even the power and might of an archangel's voice.

The sky lit up like fire as the sun hit the top of the distant ridge.

"Time to go home now," Michael told them. No one tried to argue or plead for more time. One by one, the angels returned to Heaven.

Gabriel was about to step through the doorway when Michael held him back. "I have something to say to you," he said.

The younger archangel braced himself for another lecture.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you. I know you did your best. It's hard to keep an eye on someone this young, every single minute. You did a great job."

Gabriel looked up in surprise. "You're . . . not mad at me?"

"Not anymore. It all turned out fine in the end. But let this be a lesson to you: you need to keep eyes on him all the time. Don't take it for granted that he's okay; make sure he is."

"I will. Thanks, Mike."

Michael smiled and patted the youngster on the head. "Get this one to bed, now. He's had a long day. You both have."

Gabriel nodded and stepped through the portal. He hoped they could go and see dinosaurs again sometime. Maybe when Cas was a little older.

Maybe someday.


	4. Angel Pox

Now that Gabriel was a little older, he was very busy carrying messages back and forth. He didn't have as much time to spend watching Castiel, so he made arrangements with some of the younger angels to take over babysitting duties.

Today, however, Lucifer was supposed to be watching Cas, which was why Gabriel was surprised to find himself summoned to the Healing Center.

"What's going on?" he asked.

The girl in charge of the fledglings, whose name was Sarah, said, "I wouldn't have called you, sir, but this is serious. You know about the angel pox outbreak, right?"

"Yeah." It had been going on for nearly a week now. "None of them have died, have they?"

"No. In fact, most are getting better. Then there's the little one who was brought in last night. One of the worst cases I've ever seen."

"That's too bad for him, but what's that got to do with me?"

"Because," she said, "he's been calling for you all night long." She led him through a door marked QUARANTINE into a ward where seven or eight fledglings lay in bed. "He's the one on the end there."

In the very last bed was Castiel, looking absolutely miserable, his ebony wings folded behind him in a way that didn't look comfortable at all. When he saw his older brother, he sat up and reached out for him. "Gabey! Gabey! Where you been?"

"It's okay, sweet baby. I'm here now." He bent down and scooped the boy up in his arms, being careful of his sore wings.

"Don' feel good, Gabe."

"I know, I know. This nice lady is gonna take care of you for a while. I'll be back."

"No! Don' leave!"

"I have to, sport. Don't worry, I'll be back." He put Castiel back down on the bed and turned to Sarah. "He's been here all night?"

"Brought in just before bedtime."

That would be right around the time that Lucifer had taken over babysitting duty.

"I gotta go talk to my brother," Gabriel said. "I'll be back to sign him out."

"Sign him out? I don't-I don't know if you're supposed to do that."

"It's my **job**. I gotta look after Cassie. I'll be back."

He gave Cas one last hug, and then Gabriel went to find Lucifer.

* * *

The door to the conference room banged open. Raphael and Lucifer looked up to see their younger brother storming in, looking furious.

"Why didn't anyone tell me that Castiel was sick?" he demanded.

For once, silver-tongued Lucifer had nothing to say.

"You and Mike had me carrying messages back and forth to each other all day! Why can't you two just **talk** to each other?"

" **I** would," Luci said sullenly, "but he's the one being a . . . a donkey's behind."

"You were supposed to be watching Cassie! And you dumped him at the healer's!"

"In case you haven't noticed," said Raphael, "there is a virulent outbreak of angel pox among the fledglings. The count is up to nine now; it was thought best to keep them isolated to protect the others."

"But not tell me? Why?"

"It was better you didn't know," said Lucifer. "We did our best to keep you busy."

"You kept me from my baby! My sick baby who cried for me all night long! Why would you do that?"

"Because you've never had angel pox!" Lucifer burst out.

Gabriel looked confused. "Yeah, I did. We all had 'em together. Even Michael. Don't you remember?"

"No, little brother, you never had them. The three of us did, but you didn't."

"But I remember! I remember being in a room by myself for days!"

"Of course you were. Father tried to keep you isolated so that you wouldn't get it. Just like we tried to keep you away now."

"But I'm old enough now that my grace will protect me!"

"That's what Michael thought. He was about your age when he nursed me through it. He thought he'd be okay. Guess what? Caught it, big-time! Boy, was he miserable! I was trying to keep you from suffering like he did. Don't you understand, little brother? I was looking out for you."

Gabriel looked at his older brother for a long moment. "Well, it's too late," he said. "I've already been over to see him. I've probably already got it."

"That's likely," said Raphael. "Angel pox is highly contagious."

"I don't care. I'm gonna go sign him out, and then I'm gonna take care of him. Like I should've all along."

"And if you get sick?" Lucifer asked.

Gabriel shrugged. "Then I'll still be there with him. You should've told me."

He looked at both of them, and then the young archangel stormed out as suddenly as he had come. Raphael turned to Lucifer.

"He's totally going to get sick, you know."

"I know."

"And . . . you'll be there when he does."

"Who else? Mike?" Luci made a rude noise with his lips. "He's too busy sending me love notes."

"And you're sending them right back."

"Don't want to be rude."

"How long before you go and give our little brother some peace?"

"I figure . . . three days?"

It was closer to four. But only because Gabriel was being stubborn.

* * *

Gabriel went back to the Healing Center, picked Cas up, and brought him home. He held him and rocked him and sang to him, and rubbed the base of the child's wings, so they wouldn't hurt as much.

When his own wings started to hurt on day three, Gabriel ignored them. He gave Castiel a bath, put clean pajamas on him, and fed him some soup. He was just putting him back in bed when the headache started.

"No, no, no!" he muttered to himself. Not when Cas was just starting to get better. "Just a few more days, please . . ."

But the pain didn't go away, so as soon as he put the empty bowl away, he climbed up on the bed and curled up next to his sleeping brother. He hadn't meant to fall asleep, but his eyes closed all on their own.

* * *

Fire.

There was a fire.

 **He** was on fire.

He could feel the flames under his skin, burning him, and just as he was about to cry out for mercy, the rains came. The first drops hit his forehead and trickled down onto his cheeks. The water felt so cool, so refreshing . . .

And then he realized someone was singing.

"I was soaring ever higher . . ."

He knew that song.

" . . . but I flew too high . . ."

He knew that **voice**.

"Luci?"

"Ssh. It's okay, little brother. I gotcha."

Gabriel opened his eyes to see his older brother leaning over him, wiping his face with a damp cloth. "Where's Cassie?"

"With Raph. I brought you to my place. Thought you'd be more comfortable."

That explained why it was so dark in here. "What day's it?"

"It hasn't been that long. Now shush. It's gonna get worse before it gets better, but I'm right here." He ran the cold, wet cloth over Gabriel's face again, and it felt so good. So good that he could almost ignore the ache in his wings. "Luci . . . my wings . . ."

"They hurt, don't they? I remember what that was like." Lucifer started stroking Gabriel's wings, massaging them at their base, and the younger archangel closed his eyes and sighed with relief. "You're gonna be okay, Precious. I'm gonna take good care of you."

Gabriel drifted off to sleep. When he woke up, Castiel was with him.

"Hi, Gabe," the child said.

"What are you doing here?" Gabriel tried to sit up, but there was no strength left in his arms.

"I all better now. Wanna see you. Sorry I made you sick."

"It's okay, squirt. I'm glad you're better now. I'll be better soon, too. I hope."

Cas reached his arms up. "Wanna stay with you."

"You're gonna have to get up here on your own, baby. I'm too tired to lift you."

Cas frowned, but he managed to climb up onto the bed and wriggle over beside his brother. "Love you, Gabey."

Gabriel managed to lift one arm enough to drape it over the child's shoulders. "Love you too, Cassie."

And when Lucifer came in and found the two of them snuggled together, he let them be. It was the best thing for both of them. Love was the best medicine.


	5. Wings

_(Author's Note: from this point on, we shift to Castiel's point of view, now that he's a little older. He still won't be all grown up for quite a while, though.)_

* * *

"What are we doing here, Gabe?" Castiel asked.

"You tell me, kiddo." Gabriel crossed his arms and looked at the young angel. "You know where we are, right?"

"This is where fledglings learn to fly."

"That's right!"

"But I'm not ready to fly yet. My grace isn't big enough."

"It won't be long now, Cassie. You can get some practice in now, and be ahead of the rest of the class."

"But all the other angels know how to fly already."

"Well, then, you'll catch up to them. Either way, win for our side. Don't worry, I'm right here to catch you. I won't let you fall."

"I gotta fall?"

"You won't fall. I'll be here. Trust in me."

Cas stepped to the edge and looked down. Whoa. It was a long, looooong way down there. If he fell, and nobody caught him . . .

"I don't wanna do this," he said, turning away.

"Aw, c'mon, Cassie! It's not that bad. It just seems scary right now, but once you get the hang of it, it's easy! You'll be flying all over the place, and you'll wonder what you were so scared of."

"Can't we just go home?"

Gabriel sighed noisily. "Okay, fine. We'll go home. We'll come back another day, squirt, okay?"

"Okay." Cas turned away from the edge, and Gabriel came up behind him and put an arm out as if to steady him. But instead of pulling him closer, he gave a shove that sent Castiel tumbling over the edge.

The child screamed and closed his eyes, trying not to think of how hard the ground had looked, and how far away. He couldn't even feel his wings. It was like he was paralyzed. Just when he braced himself for the impact with the ground, he felt strong arms around him, holding him up, lifting him into the air.

He dared to open his eyes.

"Gabriel?"

"Hey, I'm sorry I pushed you. I thought you were ready. Or that you'd **be** ready before you hit the ground. I promise I won't do that again."

"You better not." There wouldn't be an _again_. Cas wasn't ever gonna let Gabe bring him anywhere high like this ever again.

"If it makes you feel any better, Lucifer did the same thing to me when I was your age."

"And did you fly?"

"No. He caught me just like I caught you. I didn't speak to him for three days, I was so mad."

"I'll never learn to fly, Gabe. I can't do it."

"You'll do it, one day. You know why?" They set down on a flat bit of ground, and Gabriel looked at his younger brother. "Because you have the most beautiful wings I've ever seen. And Father wouldn't have given you such beautiful wings if he didn't mean for you to use them. We'll wait till you're ready. When your grace is a little bigger and can hold you up."

"Okay."

Gabriel pulled him in for a hug.

"You really like my wings? Zach said they were funny-looking."

"They're **unique**. No other angel has wings like yours. They're special. And one day, they'll take you places you can't even imagine. But right now, let's go home. Okay, Cas?"

The boy nodded. "Okay."

"No hard feelings, huh?"

"Just don't do it again. That was scary."

"I promise I won't. I'll never hurt you, or let you get hurt. I promise."

Cas took one last look out over the ridge before they left. It must be nice to swoop and float so high in the air, never worrying about the ground rising up to meet you. "Someday," he said. "I'll fly all over the place."

"You will," Gabriel promised him. "When you're ready."


	6. First Day of Angel School

Angels didn't dream. Castiel slept, because he still hadn't come into his full grace yet, but he wasn't aware of it. It was a short period of not existing. When he slept, nothing would wake him until he was ready.

Today, however, he woke up earlier than usual. Today was the day. Today was the day!

"Gabe!" he called out. "Today's the day!"

No one answered him.

Cas got up out of bed and went out into the sitting room of his suite. "Gabriel?"

There was a sound like the snapping of fingers, and suddenly his brother appeared. "You called, bro?"

"Where've you been?"

"Had stuff to take care of. So, you ready?"

"Yeah!"

"That's my boy! You're gonna love angel school! You already know all your classmates. The lessons are pretty easy. What I remember of them, anyway. I got distracted a lot. But you'll be fine. What do you want for breakfast, kiddo?"

"I don't know."

"The usual?"

"I don't know."

"You must want something. I'm not giving you anything until you ask for it." Gabriel crossed his arms and stood in front of the cabinet that held Cas' favorite cereal.

"Fine," the younger angel sighed. "HalO's, please."

"That's more like it."

"When will I be big enough not to have to eat and sleep anymore?"

"Not long now," Gabe said, as he poured the cereal into a bowl and splashed milk on it. "Your grace is growing every day. When it's powerful enough to sustain you by itself, you'll be a full-grown angel. Then you'll get your Assignment, and then . . . then we won't really have time to hang out much anymore. But that's okay, cause you'll be Doing Your Job and Protecting Heaven." Gabriel took special care to pronounce the capital letters, just the way that Michael did.

"What if I don't wanna?"

"Don't wanna? Why wouldn't you wanna? You just know you're gonna get the best job ever, cause you're the baby and everybody loves you."

"Okay. I guess."

"Eat your breakfast."

Cas ate all his cereal, down to the last O. He was just finishing his juice when the knock came on the door.

"Hi, Cas." Anna bounded into the room, her pearly white wings flapping with each step. "Ready for school?"

"Uh huh."

"Got all your stuff? We need to go soon."

"Got it right here." Gabriel lugged Cas' backpack over and opened it up to show them. "Your lunch is here, your notebooks and pencils are in this pocket, and over here-"

But Cas had already opened the back compartment and pulled out something that he was pretty sure he wouldn't need for school. "What's this doing in here?" he asked, holding up his old animal blanket.

"Oh, um, uh . . ."

"I don't think I'll need a nap till after I come home. So this can stay here." He draped the blanket over the top of the chair. "Funny, it used to be bigger."

"No," said Gabe, "you used to be smaller. C'mon, I'll walk with you, just cause it's your first day. Don't expect this special treatment every day."

It was a long walk to Angel School, but Cas got the feeling that Gabriel was taking the long way just to have more time with him. He talked about the days when **he** went to Angel School, and baby Cas slept beside him in his little cot.

"No matter how loud things got-and there were some pretty crazy times-you never woke up. Unless you were hungry. Then I fed you, and you'd go right back to sleep."

"When do I get a baby to take care of?" Cas asked. It sounded like fun.

"I don't know, kiddo. There haven't been any new angels for a while yet. Dad's very busy on this new project of his."

"New project?"

"Very hush-hush. Don't mention it to anyone; they don't know about it yet. Aaaaaaand . . . here we are."

Suddenly the classroom door was there in front of them, huge and dark and not at all friendly-looking. Cas hung back a bit, not wanting to be the first to go in.

"I can't come with you," Gabe said. "I have work to do. But I'll see you when you get home." He reached down and gave his not-so-little-anymore brother a hug. "You'll do fine, okay? I love you."

"Love you, too."

"There's something special in your bag," Gabe whispered. "Down in the side pocket. Don't let anyone else see it; it's just for you."

"Okay."

"Take care, now. Do what you're told and be good."

"I will."

"Don't let anyone push you around, either, just cause you're little. Remember that you're-"

Someone cleared their throat. Cas looked up and saw his brother Michael standing in the open doorway, waiting for them. "Welcome, Castiel," he said. "Come in and take your seat. Good morning, Anna."

"Good morning, Michael." Anna bounded past them and took a seat in the front row.

"Sit in the front," Gabe told him, "so you can see better. You're smaller than all the other kids, so you don't want to get stuck behind someone and not be able to see."

"Gabriel," Michael said. "Don't you have a job to do?"

"Yeah, gimme a minute. Talking to the kid here."

"I can take it from here. You go on and do what you're supposed to."

"I will! The bad thing about being in the front row is that sometimes you get stuff thrown at you."

"Why would they throw stuff at me?"

"They won't," said Michael. "Because **you're** not annoying, unlike someone else we could mention."

"Don't be afraid to slouch down in your chair. Give them less of a target. And don't-"

"Gabriel."

"In a minute! Don't be the first one to put your hand up, even if you know the answer. And you'll know all the answers, cause you're just that smart."

"Scuse me." The other students were arriving, and had to squeeze by in order to get into the classroom.

"Gabe," Cas said. "It's okay. You can go now. I'll see you later." He took a seat in the front row, two seats over from Anna.

"Out of the mouths of babes." Michael was smiling. "I don't expect any trouble from this one. He's good at following orders."

"Too bad. I was hoping for a rebel. Shake things up a little."

"I think we've had all the shaking up we can handle for a while. I really need to get started here. And you need to get to work."

"I know." Gabe sighed and glanced in through the open door, giving Cas a little wave. Cas waved back. "I miss my baby."

"I remember when **you** were the baby. Now go on. Good morning, Daniel. Morning, Rebecca."

"Morning," the two young angels said, as they entered the classroom. They were the last ones. As soon as they were inside, Michael stepped inside and closed the door firmly. Gabe took the hint and left.

Cas was relieved to see him finally go. He would miss having his big brother there with him, but he was more excited about school. And it was just about to begin!

Michael waited until all the students were in their places, and then he stepped to the front of the room. "Good morning, class."

"Good morning, Michael!"

"We have a new student with us today. Our youngest brother has finally joined us. Stand up and say hello, Castiel."

Cas didn't really want to stand up in front of the whole class, but he didn't want to disobey, either. He stood on his chair so he could see everyone.

"Hi," he said.

"All right, you can sit down. We're going to begin the reading on page forty-five. Wait a minute." He crossed the room and took a book down off the shelf, and brought it over to Cas, laying it on the desk. "There. Now: page forty-five. Who wants to start at the top of the page?"

Cas opened the book and flipped the pages until he found the one with the right number. He followed along with the class until he heard a whisper from behind him: "Look at the fledgling pretending he can read."

He wouldn't turn around and see who it was who had said that. He kept his eyes on the book.

"I'm talking to you, baby. You don't belong here."

"Did you have something to say, Zachariah?" Michael walked down the rows until he was two seats behind Cas.

"No, sir."

"Good. You can take it from the next paragraph."

Cas forgot about it until lunchtime. He was sitting by himself, eating the food that Gabriel had packed for him, when someone came and sat beside him.

"I don't believe you can really read," Zachariah told him. "You're too little."

"Can too," Cas said without looking at him. He had been reading for a while now; Lucifer had taught him when he babysat.

"Oh yeah?" Zach slammed his empty drink container down on the table. "Read that word there, then." He pointed to a word on the side.

Cas looked at the Enochian symbols and tried to sound them out in his head. "Organic," he said at last. He had no idea what it meant, but he recognized the word.

"Really? How about that there?"

"Made with all nat-yoo-ral ingre-dee-yents."

"Oh, wow! You really can read it. Hey, Bart! C'mere! You won't believe what the kid can do!"

Bartholomew, one of the older angels and a special pet of Michael's, joined them at the table. "What's he doin'?"

"Here. Read this." Zach pulled a book out of his bag and opened it to a random page. "What's that say?"

It was a long sentence, but Cas knew most of the words in it. "Praise be to God the Father, cree-cree-ah-tor-Creator-of the Universe and Father of all things."

"That's not reading," said Bart. "Someone told him what it said."

"All right, then, **you** pick somethin'."

Bart flipped to a page in the back. "Read what it says right here," he said, his finger stabbing a section in the middle of the page. "First sentence. Go."

This was a lot easier. No long words at all. "And God said dot dot let there be light."

"Dot dot?" Zach sneered. "You don't pronounce the punctuation, Freaky-Wings!"

"Leave him alone," said Bart. "He's a little kid. He doesn't know all the rules yet. That was amazing, Castiel. How long have you been reading like that?"

Cas shrugged. "I dunno."

* * *

He waited at the door while all the kids went home. He waited forever, but Gabriel never showed.

"You're still here, Castiel?" Michael said as he turned off the lights and shut the door. "Who's supposed to walk you home?"

"I don't know," the child said. "I thought Gabe would be here, but-"

Michael closed his eyes for a second, listening to something. "He's still working. He might be a while. Did he say he would be here for you?"

"He said . . ." Cas had to think about it. "He said he'd see me at home later. I guess he's not coming."

"I'll take you home, little brother. I'll wait with you until he comes. It shouldn't be too long."

Cas stared up at him in wonder. "Really? You can do that? But you're always so busy . . ."

"It can wait. I can't very well leave you by yourself, can I? I'll even make you a snack if you want."

"Okay."

Michael took him home a different way than Gabe had, which only proved that Gabe had been stalling. But Cas wouldn't hold it against him.

"So how did you like your first day of school?" Michael asked him.

"It was great! Do I get to go back tomorrow?"

His brother laughed. "You can come back every day from now until I decide that you've learned enough. Once your grace is big enough and your wings have grown, you'll learn how to make your angel blade and the basics of defending yourself."

"From what?"

Michael's face darkened. "We'll talk about that another time. Just understand that not everything in Father's realm is harmless. Now what would you like to eat?"

"Is there pie?"

Michael took a look in the fridge. "There's pie."

"Can I have some?"

"I don't know, can you?"

Cas sighed. Having Mike as an older brother **and** a teacher was gonna be twice as hard. " **May** I have some? Please?"

"Yes, you may. Go sit down at the table."

Castiel obediently went and sat in his place at the table, his little legs swinging in the air just above the floor. Maybe when he was big enough that his feet touched the floor, he would have his full grace and not need to eat or sleep or go to school anymore. Not that he minded school. School had been kind of fun today.

Michael served him a slice of apple pie on a small plate, along with a glass of milk. Cas thanked him and went to work, demolishing the pie in a series of tiny but ferocious bites. He hadn't realized how hungry he was.

He was just finishing his milk when Gabe came in. And he wasn't alone.

"So I said, 'Hey, buddy, point that somewhere else, will you?'" He and his companion laughed, and Cas saw that it was Lucifer.

"Hi, Gabe! Hi, Luci!"

"Hey, kiddo!" Gabe came running and scooped the child up in his arms. "How was school?"

"Awesome!"

"Great! Oh, hi, Mike."

Lucifer gave his older brother an icy stare, but said nothing. He turned and left the room. Cas watched him go, wondering what was wrong.

"I'm just curious," Michael said. "Who taught Castiel to read at such a young age? Even my students were impressed."

Gabe coughed and said, "I did. We read all the time, before he goes to bed at night."

"We do?" Cas asked, but neither of his brothers noticed.

"Well, good. Keep it up. I'll see you tomorrow, Castiel. I probably won't be able to walk you home, though, so you might want to make other arrangements." With that, he left.

Gabe sat down in the other chair, looking tired but happy. "So, you had a good day, huh?"

"Why'd you tell him that you taught me to read? That's a lie, and lying's wrong!"

"Well, Cassie, it's like this." He rested his elbows on the table and leaned in close. "In case you haven't noticed, Luci isn't exactly Mike's favorite person right now. If they're not screaming at each other, they're avoiding each other. I'm not sure which one is worse. I didn't want you to get caught in the middle of their little war. Cause you don't deserve that, kiddo. I wasn't lying about one thing, though: you and I are gonna read together before you go to bed. I want to see how well you do. And I promise, if I'm not there to walk you home from school, I'll make sure someone else is. Okay?"

"Okay," Cas said, and yawned. "Guess I'm ready for that nap now."

"Fine. I'll wake you when dinner's ready."

Cas went to his room and lay down on his bed. Gabe came in and spread the animal blanket over him.

"Don't grow up too fast, baby," he whispered. "I'm enjoying every moment of this."


	7. Snow Day

School was going well. Once Castiel got used to the routine, he became one of the top students in the class. It took him some time, but he finally found the gift that Gabriel had hidden in his backpack: a pure golden feather from one of Gabe's own wings. So he would be there, even when he wasn't actually there. Cas put it away again and never said a word about it.

He wished he could talk to someone about what was going on between Luci and Mike. Every angel, from highest to lowest, was aware of the tension between the two archangels, and while most simply stayed out of their way, Cas wanted to help, somehow. But Raph didn't want to talk about it, Gabe told him to keep his distance or he'd get hurt, and Father was nowhere to be found.

"Gabe," Cas asked one night before bed, "where's Father gone?"

His brother looked a bit startled by the question. "You've never asked about Him before. You haven't even seen Him since you were born. Why do you want to see Him now?"

"I thought maybe . . . maybe He could talk to Mike and Luci. Get them to stop fighting."

"Yeah, at this point I think that's what it's gonna take," Gabe muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing. Go to sleep, baby bro. Big day tomorrow."

Castiel took a long time falling asleep. He was worried about his family falling apart without their Father to guide them. He wondered if he'd ever see Him again.

* * *

"I have a surprise for you," Gabriel said, as soon as Cas woke up. "Eat your breakfast first. You'll need your strength."

"For what? School?"

Gabe leaned forward with a huge grin on his face. "You're not goin' to school today, kiddo. This is **tons** better."

"Won't I get in trouble for not going to school?"

"Not if you're with me. If anyone asks, I'll tell them I'm taking you for an independent educational experience."

"Inda . . . edjoo . . . what?"

"A field trip. Like the time we went to see the dinosaurs-you remember that?"

"Yeah," Castiel said, though he didn't really, because he'd been very young at the time. All he remembered was chasing after some fuzzy flying thing nearly as big as his head. The rest of what he thought he remembered was what Gabe had told him, including running from a huge thing with lots of teeth that wanted to eat him. "Are we gonna see the dinosaurs again?"

"Fraid not, bro. They're all dead now."

"Dead? Why?"

Gabe shrugged. "Rocks fell and all of them died. There's all new animals now. We might see a few of them."

"We're going to Earth?" the boy asked excitedly. "Are we gonna see Father's special project?"

"Sorry, squirt. No can do. Dad says hands off till it's ready. But we can see other parts of the world that He's not working on. Now eat. There's only so much daylight down there, and we don't wanna waste it."

Cas finished his HalO's in record time, shoveling them down so fast that Gabe had to stop him. "Whoa, whoa, easy there, kiddo! You'll get a stomachache, and then we won't be able to have any fun. Now **chew** your food. I gotta go get the stuff, anyway."

"Stuff?" Cas said, when he had swallowed what was in his mouth.

"You'll see, Cassie. Eat. Slowly. I'll be back."

Castiel ate. Slowly. He could hear various thumps and bumps, as well as Gabe swearing under his breath, and it sounded like it was coming from the closet. What was he doing? What was **in** the closet, anyway? Cas' old outgrown clothes, maybe. His baby toys, waiting for the next baby (if there ever was one). Nothing he needed on a daily basis.

When he had finished his cereal, he put the bowl in the sink, just as Gabe came back carrying something in his arms. "Here," he said, tossing it to Cas, "you'll need to put this on. It's very cold where you're going. The cold doesn't affect me, but I don't want you to freeze."

Castiel unfolded a thick bundle of cloth. It was a quilted snowsuit that looked about his size. "Do I put this on over my clothes?"

"Yep, and zip it up tight. Don't forget the boots! And the hat and gloves." He tossed each item to his younger brother, who dropped one of the boots and both gloves. "Never mind, I'll help you. Put that stuff down and I'll get it."

Cas dropped the hat and the remaining boot and sat down on the floor. "Where are we going that's so cold?"

"I told you: Earth. A part that's under a thick sheet of ice right now. Lift your legs up."

Cas did so, and Gabe slipped his little legs into the pant legs of the snowsuit. "Now your arms."

"Am I gonna be able to move in this thing?"

"I hope so! It'll be boring playing in the snow if you can't move!" Gabe reached out and zipped the suit up to just under Cas' chin. "Hat and gloves now."

"I'm gonna get in trouble for not going to school, aren't I?"

"Of course not! We're fine."

"Are you **sure**?"

Gabe held him by the shoulders. "Cassie," he said, "I already told Mike you wouldn't be in class today. He's fine with it. Well, okay, he's not thrilled, but he said it was all right. So stop worrying! Relax and have a good time!"

"Okay."

"Great! Put on the hat and gloves while I get the rest of the stuff."

"Rest of what?"

There was a thumping, bumping sound, and Gabe came back in dragging something big and round. "I wasn't sure the pump would work in the freezing cold," he said, "so I blew it up now. Hope it fits through the portal with us. I'll hold it." He picked it up and held it lengthwise against his body.

"What's that?"

"It's a Fun Tube! You sit on this and slide down the hill over the snow! I got the big one so we could ride together!" He beamed at the boy, who only looked confused.

"Um . . . okay."

"And that's not all! Look what else I got you!" He held up two long planks of wood. "Huh? Huh?"

"What?"

"They're **skis**! To go skiing! And ski, on the snow, and stuff!"

"I don't get it."

Gabe sighed in irritation. "I'll show you what to do with them. You'll love it! C'mon, we don't want to miss our ride!"

Cas found it hard to walk in the snowsuit; it was so bulky and thick that he could barely move. And it was hot! He voiced his complaints to Gabe as they made their way slowly through the corridors to the Exit Hatch.

"Of course it's hot! It's meant to keep you warm in the cold. We'll be there very soon, and you'll be glad it's so warm. Try and keep up, we're almost there!"

It was almost impossible to keep up with his brother's longer strides, but Castiel tried. He was just glad no one was around to see him waddling along in this thing. The kids in school would never let him live this down.

They made it to the portal between Heaven and Earth. An angel that Castiel had never met before was monitoring it today.

"And where are we going?" he asked. His eyes lingered on Cas in his puffy snowsuit, but he said nothing about it.

"Right here." Gabriel pointed to a spot on the map. "Far, far away from You Know What."

"I hope so. That's off-limits until further notice. Isn't this little one supposed to be in school?"

"Field trip. I have special permission."

"Right," the angel nodded, as if he didn't quite believe that. "All right, both of you stand together on the white circle. This should only take a minute."

The two young angels moved to stand side by side in the middle of the white circle. Cas was worried he wouldn't fit because of the bulky snowsuit, but if Gabe stood slightly in front of him, they just managed to fit inside the circle.

There was a humming, and then a bright white light enveloped them. When the light faded, Cas thought at first that they were still in the circle, because everything was white. He blinked several times and looked around. Everything was white, all over the ground, and the trees, and the mountains in the distance. And it was cold! Now he could see why Gabe had made him wear such a thick outer garment.

"Welcome," Gabe said, "to Russia. Or what will one day be Russia, anyway. You don't need to know the whole future history; we're here to enjoy ourselves! The sledding hill is over this way, the snowball fight range is over there, and just beyond the little dip there is a place with thick, soft snow that's perfect for building snow creations. I'll show you how."

"Why is it so cold?"

"Because it is. I don't know. Parts of this world are warm right now, and parts are cold. Maybe next time we'll go surfing in Hawaii-when it pokes itself out of the ocean, anyway."

Cas didn't understand a word that Gabe was saying. Ocean? What was an ocean? Was it warm or cold?

"Let's hit the hill first, what do you say? Since I spent all that time blowing up this monstrosity." Gabe dropped the Fun Tube onto the ground and towed it along behind him as they made their way to the top of the hill.

"What do we do now?" Cas asked him.

"Now," said Gabe, a huge smile crossing his face, "we slide down. All the way to the bottom. Here, you get in the front. Don't forget to hang on!"

Cas climbed into the front of the contraption, trying to hold onto the slick sides of the tube. He found that if he put his arms around the outside and squeezed, he could hang on that way. He just hoped it didn't slow them down.

Gabe hopped into the back and reached down so his hands were on the bare snow. "Ready?"

Cas nodded.

"Here we go!" Gabe pushed off as hard as he could, and they went flying down the hill.

It felt like the time that he had been pushed off the cliff when Gabe was trying to teach him to fly. The wind whipped past his face, stinging his exposed skin. The Fun Tube bounced and bumped, and Cas gripped the sides even harder, so that he wouldn't fall out. He closed his eyes so he wouldn't see the ground rising up to meet him . . .

And then the tube slid to a stop on the level ground at the base of the hill. Cas waited a full minute after it had stopped moving before he dared open his eyes. "Is it over?"

"You okay, kiddo?" Gabe was looking down at him with an expression of concern.

Cas turned his head and looked back up the hill. Wow, it was a lot higher than he had thought. And yet, the ride down seemed to have taken no time at all.

"Can we go again?" he asked.

Gabe laughed. "Sure we can! As many times as you want. Let's go!"

They went down the hill four more times, and each time was more exciting than the last, now that Cas knew what to expect. After the fourth time, Gabe called a halt and said it was time to try the skis.

It took a long time to strap the two planks securely to the young angel's feet, so that they wouldn't go flying off down the hill ahead of him.

"Are they too tight?" Gabe asked. "They're not too tight, are they? I mean, they're supposed to be tight, but if they're hurting you, let me know."

"No," Cas said. "They're not too tight." It was a weird feeling, but he could handle it.

"What do I do now?"

"You push off with the poles-not yet! Not till I tell you to!" Gabe looked down the hill and whistled. "That's a **long** way down."

"It wasn't too bad in the tube."

"Yeah, well, in the tube, you were a little more protected. On skis, you're out there all alone. Well, not **alone** , cause I'm here, but you've got nothing surrounding you but trees. And they're not soft, so don't hit any of them!"

Cas looked around. There were lots of trees, but they were set pretty far back from the side of the hill, and the only way he would hit one would be to go sideways. "I'll be okay."

"You know what? Let's move to the other side of the hill and use the practice slope."

"There's another side?"

In response, Gabe snapped his fingers. Suddenly they were no longer on the steep slope, but in a place where the hill was not quite as frightening.

"Okay, we can practice here a bit. Get the basics of it before we try the tougher course. First, get into the proper stance: legs together, poles out, head up. Let's see it!"

"Legs together." Cas shuffled his skis so that they were touching. "Poles out." He stuck his arms straight out and planted his poles in the snow. "Head up." He straightened up and looked directly in front of him.

"Good, good. Now push off with your poles and shift your body weight forward."

Cas managed the first but not the second. His skis went out from under him and he landed on his fortunately well-padded butt. Worse, when he tried to get up, the skis got in the way. "Help! I'm stuck!"

Gabe sighed and shook his head. "This is why we practice. All right, try rolling over on your hands and knees."

"I tried! I can't get the skis to flip over!"

"Okay, fine." Gabe reached down and helped Cas up. "This time, try shifting your weight **before** you push off with the poles. See if that helps."

Cas did. This time, he was able to stay upright until he reached the bottom of the slope. "I did it! I did it!"

"Great job, kid! Wanna go again?"

It got easier the more he tried. After about an hour, Gabriel told him to take the skis off.

"I know you're having fun," he said, "but if we don't stop now, we won't get in any snowman-making time. And you don't wanna miss that!"

"What's a snowman?"

"Come with me and find out."

Gabe tossed the skis into the Fun Tube and invited Cas to climb aboard as well. Cas crouched in the bottom of the tube and tried to hang on as Gabe towed him across the snow field to a broad, flat place where the snow was deep.

"And here," he said, helping the boy out of the tube, "is where we will make our first snowman. You start by scooping up some snow, like this," and he bent down and gathered up a bit of snow with his bare hand, "and form it into a little ball."

Cas reached down and gathered the snow into the palm of his glove.

"Pack it in tight. You want it to be solid enough to stand on its own. This is a snowball. Keep that in mind for later, if we have time for a snowball fight. But right now, you want to roll that snowball around until it gets bigger and bigger." He demonstrated, rolling his little snowball across the snow until it formed a thick round ball about waist-high.

Cas tried, but his snowball kept getting away from him. "I can't do it."

"Oh, let me see." Gabe rolled Cas' snowball back and forth, packing it into a good-sized mound of snow. "That's good enough. Mine is the body of the snowman. This smaller ball goes on top; that's his torso. Now we need one the size of a head. You think you can do that?"

"I'll try." Cas rolled himself another snowball, trying to pack it in tight, and this time it held together. "Is this big enough?"

"That'll do, Cassie. Bring it over here. Carefully!"

Cas cradled his snowball in his arms like a precious object. He set it on top of the other two balls of snow, a bit off-center at first, but then he fixed it. "How's that?"

"Looks great! Now we need sticks for his arms, and some little pebbles for his face. Can you find those?"

"How long?"

"Doesn't matter. It's not like we're gonna bring him to life or anything. They don't even have to be the same length. Hurry up and find them, it's getting late."

"Have we been here all day?" Cas looked up at the sky. The sun had been high overhead when they had arrived, but now it was dipping down toward the western ridge, and there were pink streaks along the horizon. "Wow. Didn't feel like we were here that long."

"Did you have fun today?"

"Sure did! Snow is great! Can we come back?"

"Any time you want, little brother. Just say the word."

There was a hum and a shimmer of light, and Raphael appeared before them. "So this is where you've been all day."

"Yep. Kid's been working so hard in school, he deserves a little R and R."

"Not on my watch. I don't allow unscheduled absences from school for any reason."

"Since when are you a teacher?"

"Since Michael needs to handle . . . other things. He needs to see us, by the way. Where is Castiel going?"

At the sound of his name, Cas turned and said, "I'm going to get some stuff for our snowman."

"That will have to wait till next time, little one. We need to leave **now**."

"We'll come back and finish Frosty another day," Gabe said. "Get your stuff together and let's go."

Cas sighed and picked up the rope tied to the front of the Fun Tube. He could just manage to pull it across the snow, following his brothers back to the point where they'd entered this world.

All of a sudden, something wet and cold hit the back of Raphael's neck. He didn't even need to turn around to know what it was.

"So that's how it is, eh?"

His only response was another snowball, this time to the back of his head.

"Oh, it is so on, brother!" He bent down and scooped up the perfect snowball, which hit Gabe square in the face.

* * *

In his office, Michael looked at the three dripping, shivering angels and asked, "Which one of you wants to explain this?"


	8. Secret Society of Super-Angels

_(Author's Note: this ended up being so long that I split it into two parts. It's also a bit darker than previous chapters, although I'm trying to keep it within the rating. Part Two coming soon!)_

* * *

Something big was going on, but Castiel didn't know what. There were hushed whispers in the corridors and rumors in his classes, but no one was actually **saying** anything. Gabriel was always leaving for "super-secret" archangel meetings and not getting back until after Cas was already in bed. The other archangels were making themselves scarce, too; Raphael was teaching Angel School now, so Cas saw him every day, but he hadn't seen either Michael or Lucifer in several days. It was starting to worry him.

One day before school, he took a risk and came right out and asked. "Gabe, what's going on?"

"Nothing you need to worry about, darling boy." But he wasn't looking at Cas when he spoke. He seemed to be waiting for some kind of message to come through.

"That doesn't mean no."

"It means it's none of your business. It's grownup stuff, kiddo. It's not your problem."

"What's not my problem? Are we under attack? Is that why we're all learning to make angel blades in class?"

"You're making blades?" Now he turned and faced the child. "Why are you making blades in class?"

" **I'm** not making blades. Raph says my grace still isn't big enough yet. How long do I gotta wait to be big enough to do stuff?"

"Don't rush it, sweetheart. Adulthood isn't what it's cracked up to be. When you're a grownup, you have to do all the hard stuff that's too dangerous for kids like you. We'll take care of it."

"Take care of **what**? There **is** something going on, isn't there?"

At first, Gabe looked like he wasn't going to tell him, but then he sighed and said, "Yes. There is something going on. But you're too young to know about it. Trust us to take care of it. Now you need to go to school, babe. And I'll have a word with Raph about teaching you to make blades. I think he's being premature, but I'm sure he won't listen to me about anything. Can't hurt to try, though."

"But I wanna help!"

"You will. Someday. Not now, though; you're still too little. Let's walk to school together and we'll talk more about this later. Okay?"

"Okay." Cas still wasn't happy about not being able to help or even know what was really going on, but he was excited about Gabe walking him to school. He hadn't done that in a long time.

When they got there, Gabe told Cas to go inside while he talked to Raphael outside, with the door closed. They moved out of sight of the door when they saw the students watching them.

"What's going on?" Balthazar asked. "You in trouble?"

"I don't know," Cas told him. "I mean, I'm not in trouble, but . . . I don't know what's going on. They won't tell me."

"Must be big," said Daniel, "if we're all making blades."

"I heard," said Bartholomew, who was the oldest one in the class now that Zachariah had been Assigned, "that Lucifer's planning to take over Heaven."

Anna gaped at him. "He can't do that! He's sworn to protect Heaven! He can't take over!"

"Way I heard it, he's recruiting his own army. When he's got enough soldiers on his side, he'll start a civil war with Michael. So we need to decide now whose side we're on."

Cas couldn't believe it. He **knew** Luci—or he thought he did, anyway. Was he really trying to go against his brothers and . . . what, rebel? Could he do that?

Raphael entered the classroom and slammed the door with a bang that got everyone's attention. "Quiet down, now! We need to begin."

Cas thought of raising his hand and asking, straight out, if the rumors were true. But what would Raph say?

Whatever he had been planning to say was lost as Raph began today's lesson, which was about the new planet Earth that their Father was still creating. Their book had pictures of some of the animals, and Cas was pleased to find that he knew each one of them, from his old baby blanket. See, that thing was still good for something.

* * *

After school, he and Gabe hung out for a while. Cas told him about the animal lesson and how he had known all of them from the pictures on the blanket.

"I remember you telling me all their names. Aardvark. Bear. Camel. Deer. Elephant-"

"Yeah, yeah." Gabe seemed distracted for some reason, like he was waiting for something to happen.

"Raph's not bad as a teacher. I thought he'd be really strict, but he's kinda cool, too."

"Uh huh."

"And then Lucifer came streaking down the hall naked and painted blue."

"Yeah, okay— **what**?" Gabe did a double-take and came face to face with his worried baby brother.

"You're not listening to me. Why aren't you listening to me? Did I do something wrong?"

"What? No, of course not. Sorry I'm not listening, kiddo, but something big is going down soon, and I need to be there."

"What kind of something?"

"The kind of something that can only be stopped by archangels. Don't worry about it. We'll take care of it. You just stay here and do your homework, okay?"

"It's happening **now**?" Cas nearly jumped out of his seat.

"Not right this second, but yeah, pretty soon. I need to know I can count on you to stay here and not go wandering off. I don't want to have to worry about you on top of everything else—yes?" He seemed to be listening to something that Cas couldnt' hear. "Right now? All right, I'll be there. Find someone to come and stay with the kid. He's still too young to be by himself."

"What? Where are you going? I'm not too-"

"Ssh!" He listened some more. "I'll be there. Yes, I'm ready. We'll do this." He blinked a few times and then focused on Cas. "They're coming, and then we need to go . . . do what it is we need to do. You stay here and wait for me."

"Why can't I come?" Cas asked, trying not to sound whiny.

"Because this is archangel stuff," Gabe told him. "This is **work** , and you're not ready for it yet, squirt. You just stay here till I come back. Don't go anywhere, don't open the door to anyone."

"Where are you going?"

"You know I can't tell you that, kiddo. I won't be gone long, though. You stay here and do your homework like a good little boy. There's some cake in the fridge if you get hungry."

"I wish I was big enough to go with you."

"No, you don't," Gabe said. "Not where we're going. But someday, not too long from now, you'll be grown up and strong in your grace. But don't rush it, okay?" He bent down and gave the kid a hug. "And never forget that I love you."

"Love you too."

* * *

He wasn't on his own for long after Gabe and the others left. Balthazar came and stayed with him, practicing swishing his angel blade through the air, but careful to watch out for the younger angel pacing around.

"When do you think they'll be back?" Cas asked.

Balth set his blade down on the table and sighed. "For the fourth time: I. Don't. Know! I don't know where they're going or what they're doing! So stop asking!"

"I'm sorry."

"Sit down before you wear a hole in the floor. Have you done your homework yet?"

"Yes," Cas sighed.

"Would you like to try my blade?"

Cas' eyes widened at the thought of holding a real angel blade for the first time. "Isn't it dangerous?"

"Not if you do exactly as I say. Pick it up by the hilt, not the blade. Go on."

Cas reached down and closed his fingers around the hilt of the blad, feeling cool metal under his fingertips. He slowly lifted it off the table, rotating it so that he held it vertically.

"Hold it so that the edge is away from you," Balth instructed him. "Which is your dominant hand?"

Cas stared at him in confusion.

"The one you normally write with."

"Oh." He shifted the sword to his right hand, sharp edge out. "Like this?"

"Just like that. Now sweep it down through the air. Reach out, forward, and down, all at the same time."

Cas got confused. He stabbed the point straight out, then brought his arm down and nearly cut his own leg off.

"No, no, no! Give me that before you smite yourself." Balthazar snatched the blade from his younger brother and showed him how to do it properly. "Don't stab like that. Sweep the blade out and downward. Make it graceful." He swished the blade through the air a few times. "Is it too big for you? Too heavy? Maybe when you learn to make your own blade, it'll be better."

"I can handle it."

"All right, then, try again."

Cas swept the blade downward in an arc, trying to balance its weight so he wouldn't fall on it. Angel blades were short, all business, but it was nearly as long as Cas' arm, and though he could make the motions well enough, he couldn't put any real power into it.

"Not bad for a fledgling. Once you get your full grace and make your own, you'll be a natural. You'll be leading Michael's army in no time."

"If I get Assigned to the army."

"You will. Everyone is. There's something big coming—I don't know what it is, but Mike needs every angel on board with him when it does come. He wants to know that he can count on you to be by his side."

Cas flung the blade to the floor. "I'm tired of all this secrecy! Why won't anyone tell me what's really going on?" He flopped down onto the couch and rested his chin in his hands.

Balthazar picked his blade up off the floor and then sat beside his younger brother. "I would if I could. But they won't tell me anything either. I'll tell you one thing, though: Lucifer's getting way too big for his britches. Sooner or later, Mike's gonna have to take him down a peg. The hard way."

The door crashed open, and Lucifer and Raphael rushed in, carrying an unconscious Gabriel between them. Cas gasped when he saw his brother covered in blood, his face pale, his eyes closed in an expression that was far from peaceful.

"Put him on the couch," Michael directed. "You two will have to move."

"What happened?" Cas cried out.

"Has there been an attack?" Balthazar held his blade out at the ready.

"It's been dealt with," Michael told him. "You can go now, Balthazar. Thank you."

He left, but Cas remained, trying to stay out of the way as Raphael ripped open Gabe's shirt to reveal an angry-looking wound with black around the edges. "The thing snacked on his grace . . . he doesn't have enough left to heal himself."

"But we can fix this," Lucifer insisted. "It's not gonna be pretty, though."

Cas tried to move in closer for a better view, but Raph blocked his way. "Get the child out of here!" he shouted.

Michael came up and put an arm around Cas' shoulders, leading him gently towards the door. "Come on, Castiel. You can stay with me tonight."

"But Gabe-"

"Gabriel's going to be fine. Raph and Luce have this in hand. They need time and room to work. There's nothing you can do but wait. He should be fine in a day or two. Do you need anything?"

Cas thought about it. "No," he said.

"Good. Then come on."

* * *

Cas had never been in Michael's office before. It was big and everything glowed white. There was a simple white throne, a desk in one corner, and a couch that could have fit two of Cas end to end.

It was to the couch that Mike led him. "This is very comfortable," he said, "if you need to rest. You might want to get a few hours' sleep, at least. There's no point in keeping yourself awake worrying."

"Can you at least tell me what . . . did that to him?"

"Nothing that you need to worry about. They're all safely locked away, in a place where you'll never need to go. I'll be right over here working, if you need anything." He sat behind the desk, and a huge pile of paperwork magically appeared in front of him. Cas turned away and stretched out, kicking his shoes off. He **was** kinda tired, come to think of it.

"Mike?" he asked.

"Yes, Castiel? What is it?"

Cas wasn't sure how to word his next question. "When I get Assigned . . . what if I don't like where they tell me to go?"

"What?" Michael got up from his desk chair and came over to sit in the easy chair so he could be within Cas' view. "You won't be Assigned for some time now. You've still got a lot of growing to do."

"But I heard it's already written down, what my Assignment will be."

"Where did you hear something like that?"

Cas didn't want to mention names and get anyone into trouble. "Around."

"Well, tell 'Around' that nothing is written in stone, and no Assignment is unchangeable. Until the moment your Assignment is formally announced in the Convocation of Angels, it doesn't exist yet. So stop worrying about it. You'll get the Assignment that you're right for, and that's right for you. I'll make sure of it."

"Okay, Mike. Thanks."

"There won't be any school tomorrow, so you can sleep late if you want. I mean, if you still sleep."

"I do sometimes."

"I'll be right back. You stay here and don't go anywhere." Cas had his face buried in the back of the couch, but he could hear Michael get up from the chair and walk across the floor, and out of the room. A short time later, he heard footsteps returning. Then something soft was draped over him.

"I thought you might need this."

Cas turned his head and looked at what was covering him. It was his animal blanket. "Thank you."

"Get some rest, little brother. I'll be here."


	9. Secret Society of Super-Angels, Part Two

Cas wasn't sure how long he'd been asleep. When he lay down, Michael had been doing paperwork, and now Michael was still doing paperwork. It could have been an hour or a day. Somehow Cas doubted it had been that long, though. He normally didn't sleep more than a few hours at a time.

The scratching of the pen stopped as Michael saw that his younger brother was awake. "Good morning, Castiel."

"Morning." He rolled over, stretched, and then sat up. His blanket fell to the floor, and he picked it up and tried to fold it, but the corners kept going askew and he'd have to do it over.

"No, no, stop! You're making a mess of it. Here, let me help you." Mike got up and came over. "You take those two corners, and I'll take these two."

So far so good.

"Fold it lengthwise the first time, like so." He brought his right hand over to meet his left, and Cas did the same. "Now flip it over and bring the ends together." Shifting it so it was flat, he brought it up to meet Cas' end. "Then square it off and you're done."

"Thank you," Cas said, setting the folded blanket on the end of the couch.

"Don't ever be afraid to ask for help if you need it, okay?"

"Okay."

"Are you hungry? Do you want some breakfast?"

"Yes, please. HalO's, please."

"Ah." Mike waved his hand, and the full bowl appeared on the side table as if by magic. "Juice?"

"Yes, please."

A small glass of juice joined the bowl.

"Thank you," Cas said, and sat back down and ate. Mike went back to work. A short time later, he raised his head as if listening to something.

"Yes," he said to empty air. "I'll tell him. Give us a few minutes."

He turned to Cas, who was scraping the last few O's from the bottom of the bowl. "Raph says Gabriel is awake and asking for you."

Cas jumped up so suddenly that he almost knocked the bowl over. "Can we go now? Is he okay? Were they able to fix him?"

"Slow down, child. We'll go see him in a minute, but first I want to explain a few things to you. First of all, Gabriel is out of danger, but he's still very ill. So you're not to tire him out or overstay your welcome. Second, even though you don't have school today, I still expect you to keep up with your studies."

"But I did all my homework already!"

"I might have some independent reading for you to do. I'll check on it before the end of the day. And finally: archangel business is archangel business, Castiel. Anything you might overhear us discussing is not to be shared with anyone else, no matter what. Understand that anything we feel the need to keep from you is for your own good. You're still only a child, and as much as I know you want to help, you're not powerful enough yet. Your time will come, but for now, stick to your lessons and do what you're told. Do you understand?"

Cas nodded. "Yes," he said.

"Good." Michael waved, and the empty glass and bowl disappeared. "Do you want to leave the blanket here, or bring it with you?"

"Will I be coming back here?"

"That depends."

"On what?"

"On how well you behave."

* * *

They passed Lucifer in the corridor on their way to the room that Cas shared with Gabe. Luci glanced at them but said nothing, looking away with a dark, angry expression on his face. Michael likewise glanced at him and then looked away. The look on **his** face was sad and resigned. Cas wondered what was going on, but didn't ask in case it was "archangel business".

Raphael was waiting for them in the sitting room. "He's in the bedroom," he said. "Don't stay too long. I don't want you getting him over-excited. He's still got a long way to go before he's fully well again."

"Just tell me one thing," Cas said.

Raph nodded expectantly.

"The . . . thing . . . that hurt him . . . is it dead? Did you kill it?"

Raph hesitated for only a moment. "Yes," he said. "We destroyed it."

Michael gave him an odd look.

"Thank you." Cas nodded and headed for the bedroom. His own bedroom, because Gabe didn't sleep anymore. Not normally, anyway. He turned the knob and entered the room, not really sure what to expect.

Gabe was semi-sitting up in bed, leaning back against the headboard with a weary expression on his face. The covers were pulled up to his chest, hiding the injury. Cas didn't want to see it, anyway, even if it had started healing. "Hey, Cassie."

"Gabe!" Cas started to run to him, and Gabe held up a hand to stop him.

"Whoa, whoa! Come around the other side, squirt, okay? Still a little tender on that side."

Cas slowed down and approached him from the other side, throwing his arms around his brother but trying not to squeeze too tightly. "I missed you!"

"I missed you, too, baby bro. Well, mostly I slept, but when I was awake I missed you. Where were you last night?"

"I was with Mike. I slept on his couch. He came back here and got my blanket for me. Then he helped me fold it up."

"Mikey and his tight corners. He was always after me to make my bed. What's the point, I told him, if you're just gonna get back into it in a few hours? But no, had to make the bed. Properly. Then I'd bounce all over it and mess it up again. Just to spite him."

Cas rested his cheek against Gabe's far-too-warm one. "But you don't even sleep anymore. You haven't since I was born."

"I know. You don't mind if I borrow your bed, do ya, Cassie? I'm . . . not feeling too good right now."

"I know. I'm sorry you got bit by . . . whatever it was."

" **You're** sorry? I'm the one that got used as a chew toy! But I'm fine now. At least, I will be. Gimme another day, maybe. You'll be okay for another day?"

"I think so."

"Hey, aren't you supposed to be in school?"

"Mike said no school today. But he said he'd make me do some reading or something instead, so I still gotta work."

"Lucky you. I never had extra work after school, but only because I had you. You were a lot of work, kiddo—but it was a labor of love. I couldn't wait to get home and see you every day." He reached down and ruffled Cas' hair.

"Hey, quit it!"

"Why? I can't make it look worse than it already does. You won't let me brush it for you."

"Yeah, cause it hurts when you brush it!"

"If you'd hold still, it wouldn't hurt!" Gabe's hand went to his side, and he squeezed his eyes shut in a pained expression.

"I'm sorry," Cas said. "I should go now."

"No." Gabe straightened up and took a deep breath, or at least as deep as his injury would allow. "Stay. Just sit in the chair quietly. Do your reading while I try to sleep."

"I don't have my book."

There was a tap at the door. "Everything all right in here?" Michael asked.

Gabe groaned. "Just peachy. Get the kid his book, will you? He's gonna be here a while."

"I don't think that's a good idea."

"Please?" Cas begged. "I'll be really quiet and won't bother anyone! I'll do all my reading; you can even test me on it! Please just let me stay with him!"

"Only for a few hours," Mike agreed. "When I come and get you, you'd better be ready to go. As much as I know you'd like to stay here all day, it's not a good idea. So be ready when I come back for you."

"I will," Cas nodded. A few hours wasn't much, but at least it was something.

"Here's your book." Mike set it down on the nightstand. "Read chapters four through seven. I'll quiz you on it when I pick you up."

"Okay." He sat down in the chair and opened his book, glancing over to make sure that Gabe was sleeping, or at least resting comfortably. Things would be okay. Maybe not now, but soon.

* * *

The next day was a school day, and even though Castiel didn't want to leave Gabe alone, Raphael insisted that he not miss another day.

"Today is going to be very special," he said. "The class will be sparring with their new blades."

"But I don't have one yet."

"You can still watch what they do and learn for the future. I don't think it will be long now before you come into your full grace. We need to be ready for that day."

"Is it true? Is there gonna be a war?"

Raph looked at Mike, who nodded slightly. "Yes," Raph said, "it's beginning to look that way. Lucifer will not be reasonable, and we can't let things continue as they are. Something has to change. You understand you're not to discuss this with the class-"

"Even if they ask me?"

There was a rustle of bedclothes from across the room as Gabriel tried to sit up. "Maybe you should talk to the class, Raphie. Best way to keep a rumor flying is to deny everything. Tell them as much of the truth as you can . . ."

"I'll do that. You," he said, reaching out a hand to push Gabe back onto the bed, "lie down. I'll be back to check on you after school . . . and I definitely won't be alone."

Cas was excited about that. It was even worth walking both to and from class with Raphael. He grabbed his backpack, made sure that the golden feather was in the side compartment, and was almost out the door before he remembered something.

He went back and spread his animal blanket over Gabe, who clutched it and smiled. The blanket looked ridiculously tiny covering the archangel, but it was just what he needed in that moment.

* * *

The moment that Raphael stepped into the classroom, there was a change in the air. All the little side conversations stopped abruptly and the young angels turned to their teacher expectantly.

"It has come to my attention," Raph said, "that there have been several rumors making the rounds about a possible civil war in Heaven. I'm here to tell you . . . those rumors are true."

A murmur went around the room and was quickly silenced.

"It is true that certain forces have been . . . vocal in their discontent with the current leadership. This has gone beyond a simple brotherly disagreement, although I do not believe we have reached the point of no return. We will do all we can to prevent this war from coming to pass, but in the event that it does happen, we want all of you to be prepared to defend yourselves. That is why we're making blades and learning to use them.

"Some of you may be called upon to join Heaven's army and defend all of us. While no Assignment is written in stone, in the event that war does break out, we will need all the help we can get. So don't be surprised if you're chosen to join a garrison in the near future.

"I trust you've all done the reading?"

There were murmurs of assent.

"Good. Now we're going to put what we've learned into practice. Bring your blades and follow me."

Cas followed them even though he didn't have his own blade. He felt better now that he knew the truth, or at least as much of the truth as the archangels were comfortable sharing. No more secrets. Not ever again, he hoped. They just caused too much trouble.


	10. The Garden

There was no true day or night in Heaven. There were periods when everyone was active, and then there were times when they were less active. Likewise, there were really no secluded places or hidden back alleys, only roads less traveled.

So it wouldn't be exactly true to say that Lucifer dragged Cas and Gabe to a dark alley in the middle of the night, but it was essentially true. They were by themselves in a place where not many angels needed to go, at a time when no one was out and about.

This felt wrong to Castiel. And not just because he was missing sleep for whatever this was. Luci had made him give his word not to tell anyone, **anyone** , what they were about to do. This made the young angel very uncomfortable.

"What are we doing here, Luci?' he asked.

The archangel beamed. "You," he said, "are in for a real treat. You see, I happen to know," and he moved in closer, "the back door," closer, until he was almost nose to nose with Castiel, "into the Garden."

"Joshua's garden? I've been there all the time."

"Not that garden! The special one! The one on Earth that Dad won't let us into cause we might mess it up. I know the secret way in, and I'll let you come with me, but you can't tell anyone what we're doing. Not anyone at all. If Dad finds out . . . we're all dead."

Cas froze.

"He's kidding!" Gabe reassured him. "He might be angry with us, but He won't actually **kill** us! At least . . . I don't think so."

"If we're gonna go," said Lucifer, "we gotta go now. In or out, Cassie?"

Cas didn't want to do something he'd get in trouble for. But he wanted to see the Garden. He looked over at Gabe. His big brother would protect him, wouldn't he? "Okay," he said at last.

"Great! Now follow me, both of you, and try not to make too much noise. The tunnel really magnifies sounds, so be as quiet as possible."

"Tunnel?"

"Not claustrophobic, are you, kiddo?"

"No," Cas said.

The tunnel access was so well-hidden that Cas didn't see it at first, until Luci lifted off an access panel and revealed a circular opening that looked barely big enough for Cas to fit inside, let alone two fully-grown archangels. Lucifer jumped up, grasped the rim of the tunnel, and pulled himself up, climbing into the tunnel on hands and knees. The top of his head brushed the roof of the tunnel, and Cas began to worry.

"You coming?" Luci called back to them, his words echoing hollowly.

Gabe took a running jump, missed his first time, but caught it the second time and swung inside. He landed feet-first and had to shift around until he was lying on his belly, leaning out of the opening with arms outstretched.

"Jump, Cassie!" he called out. "I'll catch you!"

Cas looked up at the gaping hole so far above him. He couldn't jump that high, and his wings weren't strong enough to lift him. "I can't!"

"Sure you can! It's not that high! Come on, we don't have much time!"

Cas stepped back a bit, got a running start, and jumped as high as he could. He didn't think he was going to make it, but then he felt Gabe's hands close around his smaller ones and pull him up.

"Told ya," Gabe smirked. "Now come on. Stick close behind me. You don't want to get lost in here."

Cas shifted his body around until he was on hands and knees, and he crawled forward, trying not to think of what might be lurking in a dark tunnel.

 _I wish I'd never said yes to this,_ he thought. _I knew this was a bad idea from the beginning. Now I'm stuck._ He hurried to keep up with his older brothers, who were almost out of sight. _Trust me, he said. Trust that everything will work out. I don't know, Mike. I don't think this will be okay._

"Cassie, come **on**!" Gabe called back faintly.

Cas crawled on through the tunnel, hoping that he would get to the other side before someone-or something-found him.

* * *

It was all Mike's fault.

He had called both Cas and Gabe into his office one morning when Cas was off from school. He said it was important.

"I know Lucifer is up to something," he began. "I don't know what. And I can't ask him, cause he won't talk to me. But you, Gabriel, you and Luce were very close once."

" **Were**. Not **are**. He doesn't have my back anymore-" Gabe's hand went to his side, though the terrible wound was long since healed.

"Still, he's more likely to confide in you than me or Raph. If you're careful about how you approach him, you can learn all sorts of things.

"I don't know . . . but I'll try."

"Good." He turned to Cas. "Castiel, I know you're still young and not at your full power yet, and I think we can use that to our advantage."

"How?"

"He knows you won't be able to overpower him. Therefore, he won't see you as a threat. And he knows that you won't lie to him."

"But you want me to spy on him." Cas wasn't sure he understood what it was he was being asked to do. "That's kind of lying, isn't it?"

"Let me do the talking, kiddo," Gabe said. "Don't speak to him unless you're asked a direct question. If you need help, I'm here."

Michael leaned across the desk, looking deadly serious. "None of us wants a war. If I can do anything to keep it from happening, I will. I don't want to have to hurt my brother . . . but I'm not sure he'd say the same. Lucifer doesn't seem to care who gets hurt as long as he gets what he wants. We need to stop this behavior before it gets out of control."

"Where's Our Father?" Cas asked him.

"He's on Earth," Mike told him. "He's still working on His special project, and I'm told it's almost ready. When it's done, He'll call us all together and tell us all about it."

"He should be here. If He was . . . maybe Luci wouldn't even try what he's getting away with."

"If only it were that simple, child. I don't think Luce cares anymore. He's given up on seeking Father's approval, and now he only does what he wants."

"Then it's hopeless?"

"Not necessarily. I want you to try. Try to get close to him without losing yourself. I believe in you, little brother. I know you can do this. Report back to me everything that he tells you."

Cas had been there a few days later when Gabe had hunted his brother down and cornered him outside his rooms.

"I just wanted to let you know," he said, "no hard feelings about . . . you know. It was an accident. Could have happened to anyone. And everything's fine now, right?"

Luci narrowed his eyes. "And you're telling me this because . . ."

Gabe looked a bit embarrassed. "I miss you," he said. "I miss how close we used to be. I'd like us to have some kind of a relationship again, if that's okay. I know it'll never be as it once was, but we can try, can't we? Even just a little bit?"

There was a moment when Cas didn't think he was going to go for it. Then his whole face brightened and he said, "All right, my precious one. We'll give it a try. I'll see you later. Got something to do right now. But I'll keep in touch." He started to walk away, and then stopped and looked back. "I just **might** have something in mind for us to do together. Possibly. Like I said, I'll call you."

Gabe watched him go with a hopeful expression on his face, at least till he was out of sight. Then he looked satisfied.

"Stage One, complete," he said to Cas. "When he contacts me, I'll let you know."

"And Mike," Cas pointed out.

"Of course. And Mike. Everyone will be in the loop."

* * *

So now here they were, crawling through the longest, darkest, dirtiest tunnel that Cas had ever been in. Granted, it was his first ever tunnel experience, but it was still long, and dark, and disgusting. He hoped they'd be out of it soon.

Eventually the tunnel opened up enough so that he could stand up. It was getting warmer, too. A little further on, it started getting brighter and brighter.

"Almost there now!" Luci called back. "Stay with me, kids!"

And then they came to a grate in the floor, the source of the light leaking up from below. It wasn't much light, but it was blinding after the darkness of the tunnel.

"Give me a hand with this, Gabriel," Luci said, pulling up on the grate. "It's heavy."

"I can help, too," said Cas.

Luci gave him a condescending look. "I think we can handle it," he said. "We don't want you to get hurt."

"Where does this lead?" Gabe asked as he took one side and started lifting it up.

"You'll see." Luci lifted from the other side, and between them the two archangels moved the grate out of the way. What was revealed was a square hole into a dimly lit room that Cas didn't recognize.

Luci jumped down first, then Gabe. When it was Cas' turn, he suddenly realized how very far down it was.

"It's okay, Cassie!" Gabe called up to him. "Jump! I'll catch you!"

"I can't!" Cas took a step back from the opening.

"Yes, you can!"

"We need to get a move on here," said Luci, unhelpfully.

Cas sat down and scooted forward until his legs dangled over the hole in the tunnel floor. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes . . . and slid downward.

Hands closed around his ankles and guided him downward. When his chest cleared the rim of the hole, they moved up to his waist, and then under his arms. Then there was nothing between him and the empty air but Gabe's two hands, holding him up. Gradually he descended until his feet hit the floor. Only then did he open his eyes.

It looked like the portal room, but smaller. There was only room for a control console and one single transport pad. The console was off, but Luci flipped a switch and it started up with a hum.

"What is this place?" Cas asked him.

"This," Luci said proudly, "is the original World Portal. Way back when it was just Dad and the four of us, this is how we got around the universe. No one uses it anymore, so no one else knows about it. They'll never know we were here. Normally someone would stay behind and operate the controls to bring us back, but since this is a **secret** mission, no one else can know about it. So I'll have to set the timer. Two hours should be long enough. When the timer goes off, we'll have to be right at the spot where we entered the world, so you're gonna have to stick with us, kiddo, okay? We don't have time to run around trying to find you, like that one time."

"Come on," said Gabe in annoyance. "He was just a little kid then! He'll stick with us, won't you, Cassie?"

Cas nodded. "Of course I will."

"Okay, then," said Luci. "Go stand on the pad while I set the coordinates."

Gabe led him up onto the tiny pad and stood in front of him so he couldn't see what Luci was doing. "You do know how to work that thing, don't you?"

"Bro," Luci said. "Please. All right, that should do it. Now just hold still . . ."

He hopped up onto the platform next to them, squeezing in close just as Cas felt the flip-flop sensation of transport. He closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, they were standing on a broad plain bordered by two rivers.

"Welcome to the Tigris-Euphrates valley. One day this will be known as the cradle of civilization-but more on that later. Let's go see what we've come to see! The garden is just over this way."

They started walking towards a wall of green just beyond where the rivers met. As they got closer, Cas could see that it was a high hedge of greenery—and there was a gate. And the gate was guarded by an angel with a flaming sword.

"Halt!" he called out, and swung the sword in their direction. "Stand and be recognized."

Luci smiled broadly. "Hey, Gadreel. How's it going?"

"Lucifer. You're not supposed to be here, you know."

"Yeah, about that . . . I just wanted to show the kids here around real quick. Just a peek and then we'll be gone. No big deal, right?"

"I'm really not supposed to let anyone in . . ."

"We won't tell anyone. Your job is safe, buddy. Not a word will get back to anyone, ever. Just let us poke around for a couple hours and then we'll be right out of your way."

"I don't know, Luce . . ."

"Come on, I helped Dad build the place! That gives me the right to come and go as I please!"

"That's not what I was told."

"Well, obviously Dad doesn't want me tromping through this place all the time, but this is a special occasion. We'll be in and out. No one has to know. And if we do get caught . . . your name will never come up. I promise I'll leave you out of it. It's all on me."

"Well . . ."

Luci reached out and grabbed Cas by the hand. "Look at this little face," he said, squeezing Cas' cheeks with his other hand. "Are you gonna tell this little face that he can't come in and see the garden? He'll cry. Do you want to make my baby brother cry?"

Cas felt his eyes welling up, but only because Luci was squeezing his face so tightly.

Gadreel looked down at his feet. He looked over his shoulder into the garden, and then he looked at Cas' streaming eyes. Then he sighed.

"Okay," he said, "but you have to be out before the sun goes down. That's when the Father comes for his evening walk. If he catches you here-"

"I get it, I get it. Not to worry, we'll be long-gone by the time Dad shows up. You don't have to worry about us, Gad. Thanks a bunch. You're a real pal! C'mon, kids, this way! Don't forget to shut the gate behind you. We don't want any of the animals getting loose."

"There are animals?" Cas was intrigued.

"Why do you think Raphie took the time to teach you all their names? They're all here. Well, most of them. Some of them don't exist yet, but the ones that do are all here. Come and see!"

"Remember," Gadreel said as he unlocked the gate for them, "be out before sunset. Or I can't cover for you."

"Not a problem. I guarantee we'll be out of your hair in less than two hours. Thanks, Gad, I owe you one."

Cas thought he heard the guard angel mutter something like, "You owe me more than one," but by that time they were through the gate and into the garden proper. The sight took his breath away. Trees of every kind surrounded him, some bearing fruit, some merely the greenest leaves he had ever seen. Some had bird or animal nests in their branches. As they were passing one, he grabbed a lower branch and swung himself up onto it, using the higher vantage point to look out into the rest of the garden.

He didn't see any animals yet. Maybe they were further on.

"Hey, come down from there!" Gabe called up to him.

"I'm trying to see where the animals are!"

"They're closer to the center of the garden," said Luci. "We need to keep going."

Cas dropped down from the branch, which really wasn't that high at all. "Wish my wings were stronger so I could fly," he said. "Then I'd get a good look at this place from the air."

Luci looked at Gabe. "Now there's an idea," he said. "Faster than walking, too. Can you carry the kid, or do you want me to take him?"

"I got 'im." In one swoop, Gabe grabbed Cas and flew high into the air with him.

"Nooooo! Gabe, put me down!"

"You said you wanted to fly!"

"I said I wished **I** could fly! We're too high! Please put me down-gently!"

"Why don't you take a look at what's down there? Might change your mind."

"Okay, just don't drop me."

"I won't drop you."

"You mean it? You won't even pretend to almost drop me?"

"You think I'd do that to you? I promise I won't even pretend to almost drop you. But you gotta promise not to squirm around too much."

"Okay." Cas slowly brought his gaze downward. "Whoa," he said. "It's so . . . green."

There was a flapping noise from behind them, and in an instant Cas saw massive silver wings out of the corner of his eye. "Notice anything special about the garden, Cassie?"

"Like what?"

"Look at how it's laid out."

Cas did so. "It's . . . circles. Big circles around little circles."

"That was my idea. Small animals in the outer ring. Bigger animals in the next two. And right in the center . . . well, I don't know if I can show you that yet."

"Show me what? What is it?"

Lucifer swung around so that he was in front of them. "If I show you this, Castiel, you have to promise that you won't tell anyone. Not a single other angel. No one's supposed to know about this until the big announcement next week. If Dad finds out I told you-"

"I promise I'll keep it a secret!"

"You'd better. Let's head for the center circle. You're not gonna want to miss this."

"I don't get to see the animals?"

"First you need to see the reason that all this is here. Now follow me!" He went into a steep, furious dive as he headed for the center of the garden.

Cas closed his eyes as Gabriel began his descent, which was nowhere near as fast or as steep as Luci's. His wings fluttered uselessly, and the more he tried to hold them still, the more they tried to hold him up.

"Just relax!" Gabe called to him. "Let them go limp! I promise I'll bring us down gently. Nothing to fear at all."

Relax. Easy for him to say. He could fly. He didn't have to worry about slipping out of his brother's grasp and falling all the way to the hard ground-

And then, he felt his feet touch the ground. He opened his eyes just as Gabriel let go of him. "We made it!"

"Toldja."

Luci was leaning up against a tree, smirking at both of them. "You're **trying** to fly, squirt. The instincts are all there; you just need a little more muscle power behind them. But we can worry about that later. Follow me, but be quiet. We don't want to scare them."

"Who?" Cas asked him.

Instead of answering, Lucifer turned and made his way through the brush into the inner circle. Gabe let Cas go in the middle, so that he could bring up the rear and watch their backs in case something happened.

When they emerged into the clearing, Luci stopped suddenly and held his arm out to stop his younger brothers from going any further. "Close enough, boys. You can see just fine from right here."

"See what?" Cas tried to peer around him, but he couldn't see anything but grass. Wait, there was something moving. An animal?

"You've got to be kidding me," said Gabe. "They . . . they look like us!"

"That's the idea," said Luci. "Dad created them to be like angels, but without angelic grace. Instead, they have something called a soul. I'm not really sure what it is or what it does, but it's really important."

Cas could see the creatures now. There were two of them, and they did look like angels, only much smaller. Also, they had no wings.

"What are they called?" he asked.

"Human beings," Luci told him. "Dad created this whole garden and everything in it, just for them. It's all theirs . . . except for the two trees in the very center of the garden. They're not supposed to touch those."

"Why?"

"I don't know. Rules. Anyway, they seem to be working out a lot better than those other things that we had to lock away. We just barely managed that, eh, bro?"

Gabe glared at him. "'We', huh? I don't remember you being there when I needed you to watch my back!"

"I was guarding the rear so that they wouldn't escape!"

"You could have done something!"

"Well, I didn't. And everything turned out okay anyway, didn't it? I was there to help pick up the pieces."

"Too little, too late."

"Guys!" Cas whispered fiercely. "I think they can hear us! They're coming this way!"

"Hide!" In an instant, they were back on the other side of the hedge. Cas was crouched down, shaking, Gabe's hand on his back, waiting for the strange creatures called human beings to either discover them or leave them and go about their own business.

"Hello?" a voice called. It wasn't like an angelic voice at all. It didn't have the power of galaxies behind it. But Cas liked it anyway. It was high and clear, like the wind through the trees. "Is anyone here?"

Cas stood, paralyzed, while Luci stood with his back to the hedge, his lips pressed together in silent warning.

"There's no one there," said another, deeper, voice.

"I thought I saw someone watching us," said the first speaker.

"Well, if they were there, they're gone now. Let's go gather some more fruit."

"I swear I saw-" But they were moving away now, the voices growing fainter.

Cas waited until he was sure they were out of earshot, and then he asked, "Why can't we go say hi to them? Because we're not supposed to be here?"

"That," said Luci, "and . . . they can't really see us as we are. Human minds are . . . **small**. They can't handle seeing an angel's true form. Dad's working on a way that we can present ourselves to them, but it's gonna take some time. Now let's go see some animals before we have to leave this place, okay?"

Gabe was watching Luci carefully as they walked away. He was looking at him like he didn't quite believe what Luci was telling them, but he didn't want to come right out and say so. What was going on? Did it have to do with those creatures that had hurt Gabe?

Cas tried to put it out of his mind and look for animals. Within minutes, he spotted one that he knew. "Lion!"

"That's right!" Gabe said. He smirked at Luci. "And you said that blanket was a waste of time!"

"Oh, whoop de doo, we have a magic blanket," Luci grumbled. "Kid's too old for a baby blanket, anyway. Time to get rid of that thing."

"No!" Cas protested. "I'm gonna give it to the next baby angel. The one I get to take care of."

Luci stopped walking and put his hand on Cas' shoulder. "Hate to break it to you," he said, "but there aren't gonna **be** any more baby angels. Dad is so done with us. It's these guys he's spending his time with now. He's made them so that they can make new humans all on their own; they won't need his help. So you're it, kiddo. Maybe Dad will let you be guardian to a baby human, but no more baby angels. Sorry."

Cas stood there, his mouth hanging open, slightly in shock. "No more **ever**?"

"Nope."

"It'll be okay," said Gabe. "Maybe, like Luci said, someday you'll get to be guardian to a human. That might be fun."

"I guess," the child sighed.

They saw a few more animals from the blanket: a deer, a monkey swinging through the trees, and two snakes slithering past side by side. Lucifer followed them for a bit, fascinated.

"How can something defend itself with no limbs?" he asked. It was meant to be a rhetorical question, but Cas' face brightened.

"I know! We went over this in class! Snakes bite! Some have venom that they use to paralyze and kill small prey. Others constrict around the animal and crush it to death. They don't like being bothered, so keep your distance."

"Okay, fine. Not like they'd be much fun anyway. Can't pet them. They don't fetch sticks or do tricks."

"You want one," Gabe said, "and you know it."

"Yeah, I kind of do. Think Dad'll let me keep a pet?"

"Probably not."

"Not like He's around to care."

"Just because He's not there doesn't mean He doesn't know. He knows everything."

"Yeah? Where was He when you got chomped on? Why didn't He stop that?"

"I don't know! Maybe He couldn't."

"You actually think there's something He can't do?"

"All right, stop!" Cas stepped between them. "We're wasting time! Has it been two hours yet?"

"We've still got time," said Luci. "Let's go to the river and see some of the fish."

"But not step on them," Cas said with a half-smile.

"You remember that? When we took you to the edge of the ocean, and that fish crawled up on land?"

"I remember."

"I don't know," said Gabe. "You were pretty little then. Barely walking and talking. We had a good day, though."

"Yeah."

They walked to the bigger of the two rivers, the one that Lucifer had called the Euphrates. The water was fast-moving but clear, and far below the surface, they could see shapes moving with the current.

"I see them! I see them!"

"Do you now?" Luci seemed to be in a good mood again. "Aren't they something?"

"Too bad we can't take **them** home."

"We'd have to take the water with us," said Gabe. "And I like to stay dry, thank you."

"Too bad for you," Luci said. His arm shot out and knocked Gabriel into the river. The archangel's splutters of outrage were matched only by Castiel's screams of horror.

"Oh, relax," Luci said. "He'll fly out of there."

"Not if his wings are all wet! He's getting carried away! We gotta save him!"

"At least he's getting a good look at the fish."

"Luci!" Now the child was nearly frantic. "Do it or I'll tell everyone! I'll tell 'em you snuck us in here when you weren't supposed to!"

"Think they'll believe you?" Luci said, but he looked nervous.

Gabe was slipping around the bend and out of sight. Cas ran after him, but he wasn't strong enough to pull him out of the river's grasp. "You gotta do something, Luci! Now! He'll die!"

Luci sighed. "Okay, fine. You stay here and don't move! I'll be right back." He flew off until he was directly over Gabriel's position. Then he reached down and grasped his younger brother by the shoulders and pulled.

The river wasn't giving him up easily. Lucifer pulled and strained as far as his wings would go, and finally he was able to haul Gabriel out of the water and fly him to shore, where Castiel waited anxiously. Gabe collapsed on the bank, still coughing and spitting up water, and when he was done, he rolled over and lay face-down, arms and legs spread and wings drooping and dripping.

"He needs a towel," Cas said.

"He needs a lot of things," Luci said, "but we don't have time." He waved his hand, and Gabe was instantly dry. Then he knelt down and touched Gabe's forehead. A wave of healing energy enveloped the golden-winged archangel, and as soon as it faded, he rolled over and sat up.

"Thanks, Luce," he said. "Can we go home now?"

* * *

"We went home the same way we came," Gabe told Michael some time later, when he and Cas were seated in Mike's office. "Told no one where we'd been. Haven't seen Luci since, but he said he'd keep in touch."

"I see." Mike nodded gravely. "You did very well. I'm proud of you both. Keep me informed, the next time he contacts you. That's all. You can go now."

Cas was confused. "That's it? You're not gonna do anything?"

"What I do or don't do is not your concern. This . . . incursion will be dealt with. Don't worry, you're not in trouble. I'll talk to Lucifer as soon as he turns up. He won't find out that you told me." Michael smiled. "Now go do something fun. But safe. No more swimming with the fishes."

"Oh, don't worry," Gabe said. "I am staying on dry land from now on. If I were you, I'd lock down that old Transport Room. I don't know who else he's shown it to, but we can't be too careful."

"Good idea. Thanks for the suggestion. I really do have a lot of work to do, so if you don't mind?"

"Oh, sure. Come on, Cassie." Gabe stood up and then took his younger brother's hand. They went home.

"So what happens now?" Cas asked him.

"Well, one thing's for sure," Gabe said. "Things are definitely changing around here. It'll never be like it was before."

"But that's a good thing, right? There's gonna be all new stuff for us to have fun with! I can't wait to see how humans turn out."

Gabe reached out and gave his little brother a hug. "You're one in a billion, kid. Don't ever change."


	11. The Library

_(A/N: This chapter is dedicated to the wonderful Guardians of Information who keep our public libraries running. If you're one of them, thank you for all you do!)_

* * *

Little by little, as he grew older, Castiel noticed that he needed to sleep and eat less and less. Sometimes he would eat dinner, but sometimes he wasn't that hungry. He would do his homework at the table, and when it was done, if he was sleepy, he would go to bed. If he wasn't, he would sit up and read for a while, and sometimes he would go to bed anyway even if he never went to sleep. He would lie there and wait until it was time to get up for school.

"What will I do all day and night," he asked Gabriel, "if I don't have to eat or sleep?"

"Oh, they'll find stuff for you to do," Gabe said. "You'll be Assigned."

"To what?"

"Wherever they need you. Where would you like to go?"

"I don't know . . ." The boy swung his feet under the table. He had grown enough to be able to touch the floor now; he had to lift his feet up to swing them back and forth. "Maybe the garden. I like helping things grow."

"Maybe. We'll see. You know, the last four or five of your classmates to be Assigned wound up in Michael's army. How would you feel about that?"

Cas studied Gabe's face. His brother looked worried, and not at all like he thought that would be a good thing. "If that's what they need me for, then I'll do it. But maybe they'll have everyone they need by the time it's my turn to be Assigned. Can you get me more books?"

"I'll do better than that." Now Gabe was smiling. "I'll show you where the Library is. It's about time you had your own account there. Do you want to go now, or tomorrow after school?"

"Are they open now?" Though there was no true day or night in Heaven, it felt late to Cas. Middle-of-the-night late.

"They're always open! As long as you have an account. So we go now, then?"

"Sure !"

"You're not sleepy or anything, are you? If you're too tired, we can wait till tomorrow."

"No, I'm fine!" He really was. He might be able to sleep for a few hours when they got back, but right now he was wide awake.

* * *

The Library was located in the central complex of Heaven, where all the important offices were. Across from it was a huge open building with tall columns across the front.

"That's the Convocation Hall," said Gabe. "That's where the Assignments are given out."

"I've never been to a Convocation before," Cas said. "What's it like?"

Gabe grinned as an idea struck him. "Tell you what," he said. "I'll see if I can get you into the next one. But it's a very solemn occasion, so you gotta promise to behave."

"I will. I'm not a baby anymore. I can sit still for an hour. Is that how long it takes?"

"Usually. If there's a big group, sometimes it can take longer. I think there are only six in the next group, though."

They reached the front door of the Library. Gabe pulled it open and held it while Cas went through. He stopped halfway through and stared around at the place, awe-struck.

There were so **many** books! Books and books as far as the eye could see, on shelves which seemed to stretch to infinity (and possibly beyond). But there was no one there apart from the librarian, seated behind a big wooden desk, and a young angel in the robes of a scribe, who sat at a table a short distance away.

"You gonna just stand there all day," Gabe said from behind him, "or do you want to go inside?"

Cas took a step forward. Then another. He **could** just stand there for the rest of his existence. He would be perfectly happy with that. But then he'd never get to read any of these wonderful books, so he went up to the librarian's desk.

"Hello," he said.

The librarian looked up. "Well, hello there! And what can I do for you?"

"How do I get an account here?"

"Well, let's look you up in the record," she said. "My name is Narael. What's yours?"

"Castiel."

"Castiel . . . should be easy to find." Narael opened a big book and began flipping pages. "Hmm . . . no . . . no . . . you'd think it would be right in the front here."

"What if I'm not in there?" Cas asked nervously.

"Of course you're in here, dear. Everyone's in here. How old are you?"

"Um . . . not very."

"Oh, well, then. Under the new system you'd be back here." She closed the book and opened it again near the back. "My assistant rearranged the whole thing about a month ago. Still getting used to it-ah, yes, here you are. You're the very last one."

"So it's true, then." Cas was sad to think that there would be no more angels, ever.

"It's not such a bad thing, sweetheart. There's a saying: save the best for last. That means you're the best."

"But I'm not the best at anything!"

"You will be. Once you've finished growing up, you'll be the best angel that ever was."

"It's true," said Gabe, putting an arm around Cas' shoulders.

The scribe threw down his pen and sighed. "I am trying to **work** here!" he grumbled.

"If we're bothering you, Metatron," Narael said, "you can move to my office, as long as you don't touch anything."

"Gladly!" Metatron gathered up his things and, without looking at the newcomers, stalked across the library floor to the glass-walled office. He slammed the door, opened it, and slammed it again.

"Don't mind him," the librarian said. "He's a bit grumpy because he's behind on his transcriptions. Let's get you entered into the system, and then you can check out some books."

"How many can I take out at one time?" Cas wanted to know.

"Most people stick to one at a time. Some can keep three or four going at once. You don't want to overwhelm yourself. Why do you need so many books, anyway? Not that I'm complaining-I'm just curious."

"I'm not sleeping as much as I used to," Cas told her. "Sometimes when it's late but I'm not sleepy, I sit and read for a while. I can read a whole book in a night."

"Really? I wish I could. I wish I had the time." Narael made some notations in the book beside Castiel's name. "Sign right here, please."

Cas took the pen and signed his name in blocky Enochian symbols. They were a little crooked, but perfectly legible.

"There we go! I'll just get you a card and then you can go pick out some books. Wait right here."

She went through a door marked STAFF ONLY. Cas looked around, trying to decide which books he wanted to read first. There were so many!

"What should I start with?" he asked Gabe.

"Whatever you want. Whatever interests you most."

"What do you mean?"

"Pick something you really, really want to know about. There's got to be a book about it. Especially in this place." Gabe made a sweeping motion with his arm. "This isn't like any ordinary library. Ordinary libraries only have **some** books. This Library has **every** book ever written-past, present, and future."

Cas' eyes widened. "You mean I could read books that haven't been written yet?"

"Maybe. Depends on the subject."

"Do you think they have anything about . . . humans?" He lowered his voice on the last word to barely a whisper.

Gabe shook his head. "I don't think so. Not yet. I mean, since no one's supposed to know about them-"

"Oh. But they will?"

"They will. Just not yet."

Narael came back, clutching a small square of thick paper. "Here we are. Just one adjustment." She waved her hand, and Cas' name and signature appeared at the bottom of the card. "There we go. You're all set now. Just present this when you're ready to check out your books, and we'll enter them in the record for you. Where would you like to begin?"

Cas thought about it. What did he really want to learn about?

"Do you have any books on animals?" he asked.

Narael smiled widely. "Of course! We'll have to narrow it down a bit, of course. What kind of animals? Small ones? Big ones? Ones with hooves, or paws, or claws?"

"What about dinosaurs?"

"Dinosaurs? Oh, we have lots of books on dinosaurs! How about something simple to start with?" She waved her hand, and a book appeared on the desk in front of her. The title, translated into Enochian, was _A Beginner's Guide to Dinosaurs_. On the cover was a picture of a huge reptile with lots of sharp teeth.

"Look, Gabe!" Cas said excitedly. "I think that's the one I stepped on!"

"Stepped on?" Narael asked.

"The tip of his tail," Gabe explained. "We went on a field trip to see dinosaurs when Cassie was just a little guy. We met this one up close and personal."

"Michael scared him away," Cas said.

"Oh, I see. Well, enjoy the book. Bring it back when you're done and you can have another. As long as you obey the Rules."

"Rules?" Great, there were rules. There were always rules.

"Don't worry, they're fairly simple. Rule One: all books must be returned in the same condition in which they were lent out. No scribbles, no dribbles, no torn pages, no damage whatsoever."

"Who'd want to hurt a book?" Cas asked her.

Gabe looked away and whistled nonchalantly.

"Oh, you'd be surprised," Narael told Cas. "Some people think it's okay to play catch with them. Which is all right as long as they actually catch it, and not let it end up in a mud puddle."

"It was Luci's fault!" Gabe protested. "He threw it too hard!"

"The book doesn't care whose fault it is. If it's damaged, it needs to be repaired or replaced. You won't be able to take out any more books until that's done."

"Oh," Cas said. "Okay."

"Rule Two: the Library is a place of quiet study and learning. Respect others and don't cause a ruckus." Again she seemed to be looking at Gabe, who said nothing this time. "No running, no shouting, no rough games, no falling into a chair and breaking it."

Gabe rolled his eyes.

"I can do that," said Cas. "I can sit perfectly still and not make any noise at all."

"Well, you're one up on your brother, then. And finally, Rule Three: the section of books over there," she said, pointing to a stack of books behind a golden rope, "is Restricted. They cannot be checked out, only read inside the Library. No part of them may be removed, copied, or otherwise reproduced without permission of a librarian."

"What sort of books are they?" Cas wanted to know.

"The sort that will cause trouble if the wrong people get their hands on them." She came out from behind the desk and led them over to the golden rope. "Notice anything unusual about the divider?"

Cas peered at it up close. "What are all these symbols?" he asked.

"Those are barrier spells, designed to keep out the curious. They are impenetrable and unbreakable. As certain people have discovered."

"Well, what did you expect?" Gabe protested. "You tell a kid that something's forbidden, that only makes it more tempting! Seriously, squirt, don't try getting past the rope. Those spells **hurt**."

"For a reason," Narael said. "The books in this section are not light reading. They contain some of the darkest knowledge of our kind, and only the strongest minds can handle them. For now, keep away."

Cas nodded. "Thank you for the book, Miss Narael. We'll be back soon!"

"All right, child. If I'm not here, my assistant, Darathiel, will help you. Take care now."

"Bye!"

Cas looked over his shoulder and saw Metatron watching him through the glass. He waved, but the other angel just went back to his work. Oh, well. He was very busy, and surely hadn't meant to be unfriendly.

"Can we come back here any time we want?" he asked Gabe.

"Sure you can! Just make sure you always have someone with you. I don't want you wandering out alone. Ask a grownup-everyone knows where the Library is."

"Did you really break a chair?"

"It was an accident! Okay, so maybe . . . I wasn't as careful as I could have been. But I've learned from my mistakes. I'd never break a chair now, even accidentally. And you shouldn't either."

"I won't," Cas told him. He was already looking forward to his next visit to the Library. There were so many books to discover, he'd never get through them all!


	12. Convocation

There wasn't a moment when Castiel realized his grace had finally grown enough to sustain him. It wasn't like the snapping of fingers or turning a light on. One day he realized he hadn't been hungry all day, even though he hadn't eaten since breakfast. He wasn't sleeping much, either. Some nights he stayed awake and read all night long, until it was time to get up for school.

His classes were gradually becoming smaller and smaller. One day he looked up and realized that six students were missing. During a break, Cas went up to Raphael and asked him about it.

"Well, you know," Raph said, smiling, "we've got a Convocation coming up."

"I know. Gabe said I could come this time."

"At this Convocation, we will have six candidates for Assignment. Can you guess who they are?"

Cas didn't have to guess. He knew that the names of the six—what had Raph called them, candidates?-would match up perfectly with the missing students. They would never come back to class again, being far too busy with their Assignments.

"I've never heard them called candidates before," Cas said. "Does that mean that some of them don't get Assigned?"

"It's rare, but it happens."

"Does anyone ever refuse an Assignment?"

At this, Raph frowned. "Who have you been talking to?"

"Nobody. I was just wondering if maybe . . . if you didn't like your Assignment, you could ask for another one."

"Castiel." Raph turned his chair so he was looking directly into the young angel's eyes. "Every angel, from the moment of their birth, is observed, assessed, tested. We look at their strengths and their weaknesses. We look at all the jobs that need filling, and look for the best person to fill them. This isn't a decision we make lightly. When you are given your Assignment, it will be the one that's determined to be best for you, and for all of Heaven. No matter what Lucifer says."

Cas stared in shock. "How did you know-"

"I know you've been spending time with him."

"Spying on him. For Michael. And I don't wanna do it anymore. It's not right! It's like . . . telling on him, when he hasn't done anything wrong."

"You're young," Raph said, "and trusting. I have known Lucifer since the beginning of the universe. He is very good at spinning his words into a tale designed to earn your sympathy. He manipulates people into doing what he wants, without regard for the consequences. He can make you do something you know is wrong by making it sound like the absolute right choice. You can't trust anything he says."

"I just think he's not as bad as everyone says he is. I mean, he raised Gabe. He helped raise me. He does nice things for us sometimes."

"Castiel," Raph said, "sooner or later you're going to have to choose sides. It will come down to civil war in Heaven . . . and you need to do the right thing."

"Why does there have to be war?"

"Lucifer has brought this on himself. He refuses to follow our rules and does whatever he wants. He hurts people intentionally. We cannot let this go on any longer. He must be stopped."

Cas felt a deep and aching sadness. He just wanted his whole family to be together again, not fighting each other. "Can't you talk to him? Or Mike? I bet Luci doesn't want a war either. Maybe if you can talk him into stopping what he's doing, there won't be a war."

"Oh, child," Raphael sighed. "We've tried talking. Luce doesn't want to listen. He doesn't want to change. And he's gathering followers, angels who think like he does—or have been manipulated into doing his bidding. This has to stop before it goes any further."

The class started to file back into the room. Once, they had filled the entire classroom. Now, Cas looked around and counted no more than a dozen others besides himself. And soon . . . he would be the only one left.

"Go take your seat," Raphael said. "We'll talk more about this after school. I think we should all have a meeting."

"Luci, too?"

"If he comes."

* * *

He didn't come.

The meeting ended up just being Mike, Gabe, Raph, and Cas, sitting around the table. It was the first time Cas had been allowed to sit in on an archangel meeting, and he felt very grown-up.

"Okay, first order of business," Gabe began. "The Convocation is in two days. I think Cassie should be allowed to be there."

Michael nodded thoughtfully. "He **is** nearly of age. Tell me, little brother: can you sit still and pay attention for more than an hour?"

"Yes, I can," Cas told him.

"He should have some idea what it's like," Raphael agreed, "before it's his turn."

"You'll need a formal robe," said Gabriel. "I think I have an old one that will fit you. We just need to take it up a bit."

"Never had a formal robe before," Cas mused. "Never needed one."

"Now, you know that I can't sit with you, right? I'll be up at the front, and I'll be watching you. If we get there early enough, you can sit in the second row, right behind the candidates, so you can see everything. Does that sound good to you?"

"Of course, if you sit in the front," Michael pointed out, "everyone will be watching you. So you need to be on your best behavior at all times. I know we keep telling you that, Castiel, and I imagine you're tired of hearing it, but we wouldn't be so emphatic about it if it weren't so important. If you cause any trouble, the whole Convocation will see you, and you won't come to the next one. Unless, of course, the next one is your own."

Suddenly Michael stood at attention. He seemed to be listening to something very far away. "Yes, Father," he said.

Father? Father was back? Castiel sat up and took notice.

"He wants to see us right away," Mike said.

When Cas started to follow his brothers out of the room, Gabe held him back. "Not you, squirt," he said. "This is archangel business."

"Oh, that again," Cas grumbled.

"I need you to stay here until I come back. I don't know how long it's gonna be. Maybe you can practice your sitting still."

"Okay."

Once Gabe had gone, shutting the door behind him, Cas sat down on the couch, trying to sit as still as he could. He stared straight ahead and pretended he was at the Convocation. He didn't know what to do with his hands, though. He tried resting them on his knees, and at first that was okay, but gradually he noticed warm, wet patches developing, and he moved them up onto his thighs. When the same thing started happening again, he folded them in his lap.

Folding seemed to work the best, but now his mind was wandering. Why was Father back now? Where had He been? Was He coming to the Convocation? Oh, grace, how was Castiel going to be able to sit still in front of Him?

Cas was already tired of sitting still. He got up and walked around a bit, trying to decide what to do. He couldn't leave the room till Gabe came back. His homework was all finished. Maybe he could just sit and read for a while.

He got his current library book from the table beside his bed, and he sat down and began to read where he had left off. After a while, though, he noticed that at the end of every page, he kept looking up at the door. Then it was every half-page. Then at the end of every paragraph.

When he found himself unable to finish a sentence without glancing at the door, he put the book aside and just sat again. He didn't know how long it had been, but Gabe had to be back soon, didn't he?

It was boring sitting up. Maybe if he lay down, just for a minute . . .

He shifted position and put his feet up on the end of the couch, his head resting against the padded arm. He was still watching the door when he fell asleep.

* * *

A loud bang woke him suddenly. Cas sat up, looking around, but it was only Gabe, coming in at last. Or had he been here and gone out again?

"Sorry, buddy," Gabe said. "Didn't mean to wake you. Sorry I was gone so long, but . . ." He shook his head sadly.

"What's wrong?" Cas asked him.

"It's Luci. You won't believe what he's done now."

"What?" Cas was at once excited and fearful. It couldn't be that bad, could it? The emergency alarms weren't going off.

"He's been in the Garden again."

"Without us?"

"He . . . transferred his essence into a snake, and talked to the humans. He told them to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the one thing that Dad told them not to do."

"Why would he do that?"

Gabe shook his head. "We talked about this with him. He said that it wasn't fair to give mankind free will if they didn't know what it was they were choosing. That Dad didn't really have a reason to forbid it other than 'I told you so'. And those . . . idiots went and listened to him! They ate the forbidden fruit, and Dad's furious! He's banned all travel to Earth, and grounded Luci till further notice. Not that that would stop him."

Cas frowned. "So, does that mean the Convocation's cancelled?"

"I don't know. He and Mike are still talking about that. Let's try that robe on anyway, how about it?"

Cas didn't know what to say. Part of him was sad that Luci was being punished. Another part of him was sort of glad that he wouldn't have to sit through the Convocation now. Sitting still was hard.

Gabe poked around in the closet until he found a long piece of dark blue fabric. He shook it out and held it up. "We might not even need to take it up," he said. "Here, try it on."

Cas held his arms up, and Gabe slipped the robe on over his head. It turned out to be the perfect size, except for the collar. When Gabe went to fasten it, Cas could hardly breathe.

"We can fix that," Gabe said, yanking the robe off and folding it up. "We'll put it in the drawer for now. Why don't you go to bed, and I'll find out what's going on in the morning?"

"Is Father back for good?" Cas asked.

"I don't know, Cassie. We'll see. I hope He is. I think this family needs a miracle."

* * *

When Cas woke up, he heard voices out in the kitchen. He tiptoed out and found Raph and Mike sitting with Gabe and talking.

"I just don't think it's fair," Raphael was saying, "to these young people who have worked so hard! They deserve to receive their Assignments in the proper time!"

"We can't have a Convocation with just the three of us," Mike said. "Everyone will know something's up."

"They already know," said Gabe. "Word travels fast on Angel Radio."

"What's Angel Radio?" Cas asked.

The three of them turned to him. "Morning, sunshine," Gabe said. "Have a seat."

"Really? You want me to stay?"

"You might as well. But you understand you're not to repeat anything we say."

Cas nodded. He could do it. He could be good.

"While you were sleeping," Gabe continued, "we were trying to decide whether or not Lucifer should be at the Convocation with us. Now, Mike says no, but Raph says we should go ahead with it anyway, even though we'd have to have Luci with us for that to happen. But he needs to be punished. What do you think?"

Raphael looked shocked. "You're letting a child make the decision for us?"

"Of course not! I mean, I value his input, but he doesn't have the final say. Only Dad makes the ultimate decision. We're just deciding what to tell Him."

Cas thought about it. "We can't call off the Convocation," he said. "Why can't you have it without him?"

"Well . . ." They looked at each other uneasily. Finally, Michael said, "It's just always been that way. I suppose we don't **have** to have him there-"

"There would be too many questions," said Raphael. "People would talk."

"People are already talking!" Gabriel pointed out. "They know what he did! If we let him show up like nothing happened, they'll think we're okay with it!"

"Does he actually **do** anything in the ceremony?" Castiel asked.

Again, the three archangels looked at each other. "No," Mike said. "Not really. He just has to be there."

"Well, what if he just stands there? He can't talk to anybody or do anything. And nobody can talk to him. And afterwards, he can go right back to his room and stay there forever, or at least until Father decides what to do with him."

A broad grin split Gabe's face. "It's perfect!" he exclaimed. "What's the one thing that Luci loves more than anything?"

"Chaos?" Raph guessed.

"Breaking rules?" said Mike.

"Attention! He lives for attention! If he's forced to be there but no one can talk to him, he'll be dying inside! And everyone will know that he's being punished, so that works out, too. And this way the candidates aren't punished, too. Cassie, you're brilliant! Have I ever told you that?" He lunged for his younger brother and pressed him close in a fierce hug.

"Gabe . . . can't . . . breathe . . ."

"Oh, sorry." He released the boy and stood up. "Let's go tell Dad right now! Race you!"

"Hold it!" Mike called out.

Gabe stopped halfway to the door. "Whaaaat?"

"Do we have a backup plan, in case Father says no?"

"Why would He say no? This way, everyone wins!"

"Always have a backup plan. What do we do if He decides to go a different way?"

Gabe sighed. "I guess . . . we'll have it without him. But we won't need to, cause He'll say yes! Come on, let's go!"

"Can I come?" Cas asked. "I've never seen Father's office."

"Castiel," said Michael, "what part of 'archangel business' are you still failing to understand?"

"I won't say anything! I'll just sit there and be quiet! Please, I just want to . . . be in His presence."

The archangels stepped away and conferred in whispers. Cas wanted to hear what they were saying, but knew better. He stood and waited for their decision.

Finally, Michael said, "You can come as far as the outer office. Then you can sit outside and wait for us."

"More sitting-still practice."

"You should be good at it by now," said Raphael.

"But it's hard!"

"Everything worth doing is hard, but we do it because we must. Come along, now."

Cas wanted to protest. He wanted to beg and plead to be allowed to see his Father in person, for the first time since he could remember. But he knew better than to push his luck. He jumped up off the chair and followed his brothers.

* * *

The next morning was the morning of the Convocation.

Cas didn't sleep at all that night. He lay in bed, trying to sleep, but not feeling sleepy at all. His mind was too full of everything that had happened and was still happening. He was fully awake when Gabe came and tapped on his door.

"Oh, you're awake," he said. "Well, c'mon, they'll be here any minute! Get up and get dressed! Do you want breakfast first?"

"No," Cas told him. He wasn't hungry, either.

"I'll get your robe. Here." Gabe tossed something to him, and when he caught it, he saw that it was a hairbrush. "You don't like the way I do it, so you can take care of it yourself."

Cas sighed but said nothing. He knew if he argued, he wouldn't get to go to the Convocation. Besides, it was only hair. How hard could it be?

When he was finished, he came out in his underclothes to find that Michael and Raphael were already there.

"Not dressed yet?" Raph observed.

"It's still early yet," Gabe said, slipping the dark blue robe over Cas' head. It went on just fine, but when he went to fasten the collar, Cas tried to stop him.

"It's too tight! Just leave it!"

"You can't enter the Convocation with your collar flapping! I'll try not to do it so tight." He pulled and tugged on it, but it wouldn't budge.

"You're hurting me!"

"Let me see that." Mike stepped in front of the boy and bent down a bit to see better. "Well, here's your problem: it's all twisted. I can fix it." He made a few adjustments, and suddenly the collar that had been strangling him lay perfectly flat.

"Wow. Thanks, Mike."

"We need to go," said Raph. "Before all the good seats are taken."

"First we have to go get Lucifer." Michael spat his brother's name like a curse.

"We can't just have him meet us there?" Gabe said half-jokingly.

Mike gave him a long, hard look.

"Okay, fine. We'll go pick him up."

The door to Luci's room was chained shut, and two angels stood guard just to be extra sure. Michael nodded to them, and they stepped aside. With a wave of his hand, the chains fell away. He knocked on the door politely. "Lucifer?"

"Nobody here by that name!" a voice called from within.

Cas didn't want to go in. Luci sounded mad. Really mad. And if he remembered that Cas and Gabe knew about the secret portal to Earth . . .

"Open this door now!"

"Don't wanna. What's the point?"

"The Convocation is in an hour! You **will** be there! Now open up!"

"Bite me."

Michael pressed his lips together in resignation, and clapped his hands twice. The door blew inwards in an explosion of wood and metal.

Lucifer, clad only in a sleeping robe, was lounging on the couch. "Oh, hey, Mike," he said nonchalantly.

"Get dressed," Michael ordered him.

"I'm not going."

"Yes you are!"

"I'm sick," Luci said, coughing unconvincingly.

"Stop acting like a child! You know what you did was wrong! Accept your punishment like an adult!"

"You know, there's one thing I've never understood about this," Lucifer said, glancing at his brothers before continuing. "No one else knew about the secret portal to Earth. So how did you know where to find me?"

He knew. He knew they had told. Well, if he knew, there was no point in keeping it a secret anymore. Cas opened his mouth to say so when Michael said, " **I** knew."

Cas stared at him.

"I wondered how you got back and forth without being seen, and then I remembered the old portal. The one that only the four of us knew about. I staked it out for a few days just to be sure . . . and it turned out I was right. You're not as clever as you think you are, little brother."

For once, Luci had nothing to say.

Mike looked over his shoulder at Cas and the others. "You'd better go. We'll meet you there."

"Thanks, Mike," Cas said. He didn't say for what, but somehow Michael understood.

As they made their way to the Convocation hall, Raphael said, "You are truly a child no longer, young one. I think it's finally time you made yourself a blade."

"Really?" Cas was excited.

"That's my boy," said Gabe proudly.

* * *

The Convocation was the best one ever, even though there were only six candidates this time around.

Castiel sat in the second row, on the aisle, so he could see everything. He sat still for a long time, and then he had to move a bit, but no one noticed. He could have gotten up and disco-danced in the aisles and no one would have noticed.

All eyes were on Lucifer, standing stiffly next to Michael, eyes darting around frantically as he begged silently for someone, anyone, to say something to him! Just one kind word! Or even one that wasn't so kind. It was torturing him, and everyone got to watch.

Cas almost felt sorry for him. Almost-until he reminded himself that the humans, who called themselves Adam and Eve now, had been forced out of the Garden because of what Luci had made them do. They had to live in the cold, harsh world, and that wasn't fair.

So maybe he didn't feel **too** bad.


	13. The Tree

_(A/N: I want to take a moment to thank guest reviewer Kathy for her kind words. You're awesome! I treasure any and all reviews, so if you keep reading and reviewing, I'll keep this going as long as I can.)_

* * *

Gabriel found Cas in the same spot in which he always found him in the garden: under his special tree.

"See the tree, how big it's grown," he said as he sat down beside his brother. "I remember when it was just a sapling. Now it's big enough to bring shade to this entire section of the garden. Just like you."

"I love that there's a tree for each of us," Cas said. "Sad that there won't be any more."

"You never know," Gabe said. "You know, right here is where you learned to walk. I sat right over there and watched you take your first steps."

* * *

 _"_ _Come on, Cassie!" Gabriel urged his tiny brother. He was sitting at one end of the big blanket that Mike had spread out for them, and little Castiel was standing at the other end, cocking his head as if he wasn't sure what to do._

 _"_ _Come on, baby! Walk to me!" Gabe patted the blanket in front of him. "You can do it, Cassie!"_

 _"_ _He's not gonna do it," said Lucifer, who was sitting on the corner to Gabe's left._

 _"_ _Yes, he is! He's ready!"_

 _"_ _He doesn't look ready," said Michael, perched on the right corner._

 _"_ _He almost did it last night! He looked like he was gonna, but he tripped on the edge of the rug. But out here, there's nothing to trip over."_

 _Mike and Luci looked at each other and stretched out their legs along the edges of the blanket, to hold it down._

 _"_ _C'mon, Cassie! One little step! You can do it!"_

 _The child continued to stand there, swaying back and forth on his bare feet._

 _"_ _He's just gonna fall over," said Luci. "Forget it."_

 _"_ _If you don't want to say anything helpful or encouraging," said Mike, "you can go help Raphael with the other fledglings."_

 _Luci glared at him. "You're a jerk."_

 _"_ _And you're a whiny little b—"_

 _"_ _LOOKIT, HE'S DOIN' IT!" Gabe shrieked, bouncing up and down in his excitement. "LOOKIT, LOOKIT! HE'S DOIN' IT!"_

 _And he was doing it. Castiel toddled about six steps across the blanket before losing his balance and falling backwards onto his butt. He looked up in surprise as Gabe cheered at the top of his lungs._

 _"_ _You did it! Yay! Yay, yay!" He put his arms up in celebration, and Cassie raised his arms, too._

 _"_ _Yay," Lucifer said without any enthusiasm, and Michael smacked him on the arm. "Ow! What?"_

 _"_ _You could_ _ **try**_ _to get along!"_

 _"_ _Yeah . . . not really feeling it. Whatever."_

 _Gabe didn't let his brother kill his good mood. "That was so awesome, Cassie! Want a cracker?" He snapped his fingers and made one appear._

 _"_ _Akka," Cas said, reaching for the treat._

 _"_ _Did he just say—" Gabe looked at his brothers, who nodded. "Well, all right, then! Two firsts in one day! You are super awesome, baby!"_

* * *

"So my first word was 'cracker'?" Cas asked Gabe now.

"Yep. What did you expect it would be, 'Dada'? Like he was ever around."

"Bet Raph was sad that he missed it."

"A little, yeah. But he got over it. Anyway, you weren't walking long. You started running, and we couldn't keep up with you. Your favorite game was running away from me and hiding."

* * *

 _"_ _Where's Cassie?" Gabe slowly turned in a circle and looked all around the garden. "Where's my baby? I can't find him anywhere!"_

 _He heard giggles from behind a nearby tree, but it was too early in the game to find him yet. He went off to find Michael._

 _"_ _Mikey, have you seen Cassie?"_

 _Mike tried to ignore the giggles and said, "No, I haven't seen him. Have you tried in the flowers? He likes the flowers."_

 _"_ _Okay, thanks, bye!" This was all part of the game. Gabriel went along the edge of the flower beds, where he found Raphael._

 _"_ _Raphy, have you seen Cassie? I can't find him anywhere!"_

 _"_ _No," Raph said, "I haven't seen him. Have you tried the Grove of the Sacred Trees?"_

 _"_ _Okay, thanks, bye!" Gabe skipped off to the grove, just ahead of the barely audible giggles. Along the way, he found Lucifer sitting on a rock and trying to look mean. He wasn't good at it yet; he just looked like he'd missed his nap._

 _"_ _Luci, have you seen Cassie? He's lost, and I can't find him anywhere!"_

 _"_ _I know where he is!" Luci stood up and went directly to the sacred grove, where Castiel was trying to hide behind a tree that was too small to hide anyone._

 _"_ _Here you are, you silly baby!" Gabe scooped him up in his arms. "Hooray, hooray, I've found my Cassie!"_

 _"_ _He always hides in the same place," Luci grumbled. "Why don't you just look there first?"_

 _Gabe stared at him. "Cause that's not how it goes! You gotta play the game right!"_

 _"_ _Well, maybe he could choose a tree that's a little bigger, so he can actually, y'know,_ _ **hide**_ _behind it."_

 _"_ _I'm not surprised that Castiel chose this tree," said a voice._

 _The three young angels looked up. "Hi, Joshua," Gabe said._

 _"_ _You come to the grove every day in your play, but have you ever told him why this grove is so important?"_

 _"_ _Wanna play," Cas said, squirming in his brother's arms. Gabe put him down._

 _"_ _Every time an angel is born," said Joshua, "I plant a tree here. This one is your tree, Castiel. It was planted the day you were born. That's why it's still so small. Now come with me."_

 _They walked along the row of trees, which gradually grew larger and larger. Along the way, Joshua named each tree._

 _"_ _This one is Gabriel's," he said, resting a hand against a tree that was twice as tall as Gabriel himself. "And this one is Lucifer's." That one was a lot taller, and its bark was as black as the clothes that Luci had been wearing lately._

 _Raphael's tree was taller still, towering over all the others—except one. The last tree seemed to touch the top of the sky._

 _"_ _Mikey's?" Gabe guessed._

 _"_ _Of course. The tallest and strongest of them all. You're welcome to come and visit your tree any time you like, but please don't break off any branches or pull down any leaves."_

 _"_ _Why?" Luci asked. "Because each tree is connected to the angel it was planted for, and hurting it will hurt them?"_

 _"_ _No," Joshua said patiently. "Because it makes a mess. And I have enough work to do here without cleaning up your mess."_

 _Cas ran back to his tree and hugged it. His little arms just fit around the trunk._

 _"_ _Twee," he said, leaning his head against its bark. "Nice twee."_

* * *

"I could sure hide behind it now," Cas said, looking up at his tree. "But I'm not in the mood for games."

Gabe nodded. "Let's see your blade," he said.

There was a metallic _zing_ , and the blade slid out of the young angel's sleeve. It was a little smaller and lighter than most angel blades, but it looked equally as sharp.

"Nice. Not bad. You learning to use it yet?"

Cas nodded. "I've been practicing every day after school."

"Show me." There was another _zing_ , and a golden blade slid out of Gabe's sleeve. "I know it's not a fair fight against an archangel blade. I promise to go easy on you."

"Really? Cause Raph doesn't."

"Has he hurt you?" Gabe looked concerned. "I know he'd never do it on purpose, but—"

"Only once. And it healed up right away, on its own."

"So now your grace is healing you, too."

"Yeah."

Their blades met with a clang and a flash of light. Clearly the boy had been practicing, Gabe noted. He blocked every blow aimed at him, even though, admittedly, Gabe wasn't trying very hard.

After a few minutes, he said, "Enough!"

Cas lowered his blade.

"That was great," Gabe said, but without much conviction. "That was . . . really impressive."

Cas cocked his head. "What's wrong?"

Gabe looked like he didn't know what to tell him. Then he said, "Where's my baby? I can't find him . . . anymore. He's grown like the tall tree."

Cas ducked behind the tree.

"Oh, that is not fair! It's big enough to hide you now!"

"Yeah, but you know where I am."

"That's not the point. One day, I'm gonna look up, and you're really gonna be gone. Gone to be a soldier."

Cas came out from behind the tree and put his hand over his brother's. "Gabe," he said, "I'm okay with being a soldier. If that's where they need me. I'll be the best soldier in Heaven's army. I'll make you proud of me."

At this, Gabe's eyes misted over. He reached out and pulled Cas close to him.

"I'm already proud of you," he said. "Just because you're you. Don't let them change you, baby, okay? You keep being you, and I'll keep being proud. Be tall like your tree. Never bend, never break. That's how you make me proud."


	14. Amazing Grace

It was a strange feeling, to be full of grace. It surged through his veins like holy fire, energizing and renewing him with every breath, every step, every beat of his wings.

Classes as he had known them had been suspended. Since he was the only pupil left, there was no point sitting in a huge, empty classroom; he and Raphael took their lessons outdoors. Cas was getting good with his blade, though there was still much to learn.

When he wasn't in class, he sat in the library, reading everything he can get his hands on. He went back to his room around the time he used to have dinner, just to check in with Gabe, and then he sat up and read some more until it was time for school.

There had been two more Convocations since the first that Castiel had attended. The first had eight candidates; the second, twelve. Now he was the only one left, and at his own Convocation, he would be the center of attention.

He was already being fitted for the white robe. He'd need a new one anyway, since the blue one was far too small already.

"Do you mind being the only one?" Raphael asked as he knelt down and pinned up the bottom of the robe. "I thought about holding one or two back to join you, but then I decided that it wouldn't be fair to them."

"It's okay," said Cas. He was trying very hard not to move, but occasionally he would forget and shift position, and get stabbed by a pin. "Everyone will be there anyway, right?"

"Almost everyone," said Gabe.

Michael gave him a look, but then sighed and shook his head. "I don't know why I bother anymore. He's clearly not interested in anything but his own agenda. If he doesn't come . . . no big loss."

"After the Cain incident," said Raph, "I'd be surprised if he dared to show his face."

"Cain incident?" Cas asked, and got stabbed again.

"Castiel, for the love of our Father, stop **moving**!"

"Sorry! What Cain incident?"

"You might as well tell him," said Gabe. "He's not a little kid anymore."

"All right," said Mike. "Fine. Lucifer corrupted Adam and Eve's firstborn, turned him into a twisted creature who lives only for pain and blood. A demon. And he's not done yet. He takes a special pride in corrupting humanity and turning them into these creatures of darkness. He must be stopped. If necessary, we may have to kill him."

The way he said it so matter-of-factly made Cas shudder. And he wasn't the only one.

"Are you going to lower yourself to his level?" Gabe asked in a low voice. "Are you going to become like he is, doing whatever you want regardless of the consequences?"

"Not like him," Michael said. "I will do whatever is necessary to protect Heaven."

"You would kill our brother. Just like that."

"We cannot let him continue this reign of terror. Father is working on a way to contain him; for now, he is banished from Heaven, confined to the lower realm."

"He doesn't see it as a punishment, though," said Raph. "He has gathered his demons there, along with the souls of captured humans that he likes to torment."

"Yet another reason he must be ended."

"Well, count me out," said Gabriel. "I won't kill my family. If you two want to duke it out to the death, fine. I'll be watching from a safe distance-like Pluto."

"You're leaving?" Cas asked. "But you can't leave!"

"Oh, I'm not leaving right now," Gabe told him. "Not before the Convocation, anyway. But I won't be part of this. When your war starts, I am **so** outta here!"

Michael didn't look happy. "I need you to stand with me. Once Lucifer is dealt with you can go where you please, but I need you by my side for this."

"I'll help stop him," Gabe agreed. "But I won't kill him."

"Can we talk about something else now?" Cas asked.

"Of course," said Mike. "Let's run through the ceremony. Sort of a little rehearsal, right here."

"There's not enough room here, is there?"

"We'll pretend there is. Now, when the organ starts playing, we line up single file—and no gaps this time. We don't want to remind everyone of who's not here."

"What if he shows up?" Gabe asked.

Mike stared at him. "He wouldn't dare. So: line up single file and proceed slowly down the aisle. When we reach the head of the aisle, we spread out, and you," he said to Cas, "stop, stand, turn, and wave."

"And don't fall over."

"Gabe!" Cas protested. "I won't fall over! That happened one time cause my wings threw me off-balance! But it was a long time ago. So I stop, stand, turn, and wave." He demonstrated, with one hand on the back of a chair. "Does it matter which hand I wave with?"

"Whichever makes you feel more comfortable." Michael looked a bit annoyed, like he just wanted to get on with it. "I'll make the welcome speech, then everyone sits. Then we'll each make a short speech-"

"I have to make a speech?" Gabe seemed nervous.

"A short one. Try to keep it on topic. No jokes. This is a serious occasion, and I want us to acknowledge its importance. This is the last ever Convocation, remember, so this is the one they'll all remember. We want everything to go perfectly."

"Uh oh."

"What?"

"Now something's definitely gonna go wrong. You just jinxed us, Mikey. Thanks."

Mike sighed. "If something does go wrong, a) we'll be prepared for it, and b) don't let it be you. All we need from you is a five-minute speech about how proud you are and how much this means to all of us. Once the speeches are done, the important part begins. That's you, Castiel.

"When I call your name, you get up and stand before us. Keep your eyes forward, looking neither to the left nor to the right. And if I catch anyone making ridiculous faces, I will smite you on the spot. Is that clear?"

"The thought hadn't even crossed my mind," said Gabe. "Till you mentioned it."

"I mean it. We will have decorum at all costs. Short introductory speech, and then the three questions. Let's practice now."

"I know what to do," said Cas. "I've been to three Convocations, and I've paid attention."

"Fine, let's hear it. Do you swear to uphold the laws of Heaven and Earth, keep the peace, maintain order, protect the innocent, and punish the guilty?"

"That's way more than three questions."

Michael somehow glared at Gabe without even turning around. The back of his head looked angry.

"Sorry, sorry! I swear, not a word during the actual ceremony! Go on."

Cas stifled a giggle, got control of himself, and said, "I do."

"Will you obey all orders without question, or regard for your personal wishes?"

"I will."

"Are you prepared to lay down your life if necessary for the defense of your brothers and sisters, and all of Heaven itself?"

Gabe looked anguished. It hadn't occurred to him until now that being a soldier meant that Cas could die.

"I am," Cas answered solemnly.

"Then kneel and receive your Assignment."

Cas got on his knees, his head bowed. Michael mimed laying the red mantle across his shoulders.

"Now rise, Soldier of Heaven. And join your brothers and sisters."

Cas stood and turned around.

"Final words, dismissal, and we file out the same way we came in. If all goes well, we should be done in no more than forty-five minutes." He smiled. "Then the party begins. And it'll be the best party ever, because it's for you, little brother. How do you feel about becoming a grownup at last?"

Cas thought about it. "I'm glad," he said. "But kind of sad, too. I miss just playing in the garden."

"You know you won't be coming back here, right?" said Gabe. "You'll be reporting to the barracks for your training. If you're lucky, you'll get a room of your own soon. So take anything you want from here."

Cas looked around. "There really isn't much here that's mine," he said. "Except this." In his hands, he clutched the animal blanket. It looked so tiny now, he could hardly believe it had once covered his whole body.

"I'll see you first thing in the morning," Michael said, and left.

Raphael patted Cas on the shoulder and said, "You'll do fine. Everyone is so proud of you. You know the words; you know what to do. I have faith in you, young one." Then he, too, left.

* * *

His last night in this room. Cas couldn't believe it. Neither could Gabe, who pointed to one corner and said, "There used to be a crib right over there. You would sleep there, and I would sit up and watch you all night. You never woke once, unless you were hungry or needed a diaper change."

"Weren't you just a child yourself?" Cas asked. He'd heard this story many times before.

"I was. A lot of people, including my own brothers, didn't think I could do it. But I stepped up and did it. And it's the best thing I've ever done. I raised you, but maybe . . . maybe you raised me, too."

Cas didn't know what to say.

"Oh, come here!" Gabe reached out and pulled him into a hug. "I don't care what they tell you; it's never a bad thing to show affection to someone you care about. Appropriately, of course; not in the middle of the Convocation or anything like that. But maybe afterwards, at the reception."

"I've never had a party all for me," Cas said.

"No one has. Or ever will again. You're special, kiddo. In more ways than one."

Reluctantly, Gabe broke contact and sat in the chair in the corner of the room. "Why don't you try and get some sleep?"

"But I don't sleep anymore. I haven't for months now."

"Just lie there and rest, then. It'll be just like old times: you in the bed, and me watching over you. For the last time ever."

And just because it would be the last time, Cas said, "Okay."

* * *

He hadn't meant to sleep. He hadn't **needed** to sleep in a long time. It wasn't until he woke up, tangled in the animal blanket, that Cas realized he had slept.

"Just in time," said Gabe. "I was gonna wake you in a minute. How're you feeling? Are you ready?"

Cas shoved the blanket off. "I'm ready."

"Good, cause they'll be here any minute. I'll help you get dressed."

While Gabe went to fetch the white robe, Cas folded up the blanket. He smiled as he thought of how he had learned all the names before he even started school. But it was a **baby** blanket, and he wasn't a baby anymore.

When Gabe came back, Cas said, "I'm going to leave this here with you. I don't need it where I'm going. You should have it."

"Aw, thanks, kiddo." Gabe put the robe down on the chair and tucked the folded blanket into a drawer. "Let's make some room in here," he said, and snapped his fingers, making the bed disappear.

It didn't look like the same room anymore, which made Cas feel a bit sad. But things had to change. He had to move forward, no matter what it meant he was leaving behind.

* * *

An hour later, standing in the Convocation hall in the stiff, surprisingly heavy white robe, he felt excited and nervous at the same time. Part of him wanted to turn and run as far as he could go. Or fly. He was getting quite good at flying now. But the other part, the grown-up part, knew that he had to stay and do this. Just walk, and stand, and sit, and say a few words. That was all he had to do. He could do that.

"Are you ready?" Michael, in his crimson robe, stood waiting for him at the end of the aisle.

"I am," Cas said. "Let's do this."

"As soon as the organ music begins," said Raphael, resplendent in his sapphire blue robe.

"Everyone's here," Cas noted, taking a peek at the hall, where every seat was full.

"Everyone's here for **you** ," said Gabe, his gold robe shining like the sun. "All for you, and just for you. Let the good times roll!"

Michael looked like he was about to say something, but there was a flourish and crash of organ music. It was time for the procession.

They lined up in single file and made their way down the aisle, all the way to the front. When they reached the end of the aisle, the three archangels took their places at the podium while Cas stopped at the first row of seats. He turned, waved, and then turned his eyes toward the front again, ready for the ceremony to begin.

"Welcome," said Michael, "to a very special Convocation. As most of you know, it's special because it's the very last Convocation that will ever be. Today, our youngest brother takes his place with us, and receives his Assignment at last."

There was a short round of applause.

"We are instruments of the Father's will. We serve Him and serve humanity as well. Our-" He broke off suddenly, and everyone turned around to see what was going on.

"Oh, no," Raphael muttered. " **Now** he shows up."

Standing in the open doorway, watching the proceedings nonchalantly, was none other than Lucifer, clad in a black robe with silver edging. And he wasn't alone; with him were two of his demons, Lilith and Azazel. None of them were making any hostile moves, or doing anything other than just standing there.

Every head turned toward Michael, waiting to see what he would do. Cas looked around, but he didn't see the flash of metal as light glinted off angel blades. He felt his own blade trembling in his sleeve, ready to descend into his hand and join in the fight.

But there would be no fight today. Before Michael could say or do anything, Lucifer and his two companions turned and left the hall.

"Someone should go after them," Gabriel whispered. "They're up to something."

"I've got people on it," Michael whispered back. "They won't get away." He looked out over the waiting Convocation and picked up where he had left off.

"Our sacred mission will continue, despite the efforts of those who would work against us. We will prevail, because we are righteous. Our unity is our strength. Today we become stronger by one. I have watched Castiel grow from a tiny fledgling into a strong and capable juvenile, and I look forward to seeing the adult he will become. I expect great things from him." He stepped back, and Raphael took his place.

"It has been my privilege to guide Castiel on his journey to adulthood. I have been his teacher for some time now, and I could not ask for a better student. He is intelligent, creative, hard-working, and will serve us well. He is the best of all of us."

Now it was Gabe's turn. He stepped up nervously.

"I suppose I'm the one who knows Cas the best. He was my baby. He's been with me from the very beginning of his existence, and I'm proud of him. And now the time has come for me to let him go. He needs to soar free, on his own, and I know he can do that. He can do it because we've given him everything he needs to succeed. Moral guidance . . . intellectual stimulation . . . and love. With those three things—conscience, mind, and heart—he will go far. Fly high, my little fledgling. Be free."

Gabe turned away before he choked up and started crying. Michael stepped forward, pausing only to rest a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder.

"And now we come to the reason why we are here. Castiel, step forward."

Cas got up and made his way to the head of the aisle, looking neither to the left nor to the right as he had been instructed. It took him seven steps—he counted. Once he was there, he stopped and raised his eyes to his oldest brother.

"Castiel, you come before us as a candidate for Assignment. It is the will of the Father and the consensus of the Heavenly Host that you should take your place in Heaven's army and fight on the side of righteousness. Do you accept this?"

"Yes," Cas said.

"Do you swear to uphold the laws of Heaven and Earth, keep the peace, maintain order, protect the innocent, and punish the guilty?"

"I do."

"Will you obey all orders without question, or regard for your personal wishes?"

"I will."

"Are you prepared to lay down your life if necessary—"

Suddenly a message came over Angel Radio. _"Sir, we have him! The two demons escaped, but Lucifer is in custody!"_

 _"Hold him until I come for him. Well done, Zachariah."_ Once that message went out, Angel Radio went silent, and Michael was able to continue. "If necessary, for the defense of your brothers and sisters, and all of Heaven itself?"

Cas realized that these weren't just words. He was being asked to join the fight against Lucifer, a fight that not everyone would necessarily survive. He took a deep breath and said, "I am."

"Then kneel and receive your Assignment."

The red velvet mantle of Heaven's army was laid across his shoulders as Castiel knelt before the archangels. He didn't want to have to kill Luci. He didn't want to **be** killed, either. But he would do what had to be done.

"Now rise," Michael intoned solemnly, "Soldier of Heaven, and join your brothers and sisters."

* * *

At the reception, he could finally cut loose.

He threw off the uncomfortable white robe and changed into his customary clothes, which would be fine. Angels didn't dance. At least, they hadn't up till now. This was one of many things that would soon change.

"Heeeey! You made it, little brother!" Balthazar slid up to him and put an arm around his shoulders. "Want a drink?"

"Drink?"

"Super-potent angel booze. A thousand times stronger than that weak stuff brewed up by humans. It'll make you feel reeeeal good!" He produced a bottle of dark liquid and a tiny cup, and poured some into the cup. On the second try; he missed the first time. "Whoops! Everyone look out for the puddle! Or grab a straw!"

Cas took the cup and sniffed it. It didn't smell like anything familiar. He sipped a little, and it made him cough and sputter.

"What are you doing? Give me that!" Gabe grabbed the cup out of his hand, glanced into it, and drained it himself. "You can't handle it, kiddo. And you," he said to Balthazar, "have had enough. I'll take that." He took the bottle and made it vanish.

"Party killer," Balthazar grumbled, and slunk away.

"I didn't think you were gonna come," Cas said to Gabe.

"What, and miss your big night? Rampaging dinosaurs couldn't keep me away! Hey, how are you?" he greeted an angel that Cas didn't immediately recognize.

"Congratulations, Castiel. Didn't think they'd take you for a soldier. Guess they didn't have a choice." He didn't seem too much older than Cas, and it took him a moment to put a name with the face.

"Samandriel?"

"You remember me! I've been Assigned to Records. Boring, right? Wish I was in the middle of the action like you."

"There's gonna be action?"

"You think Michael is gonna let Lucifer get away with just strolling back into Heaven? And bringing demons with him, no less? They'll tighten up security so that no one gets in or out without six background checks and a mountain of paperwork. And Luci will find a way to strike back. You'll be lucky to get any training at all before they ship you out to fight. Hope you're good with your blade."

"Well, love to stay and chat, but can't hang out all night. See ya later, Sammy!" Gabe carefully steered Cas through the crowd until they were far away from Samandriel. "Don't worry about what he said. Mike will handle it. You'll be fine."

"Where is he? Where is he holding Luci?"

"I don't know. Seriously, they didn't tell me. So don't go looking or anything."

"If you had to guess where he was, where would you guess?"

"Kid, I mean it. Don't get involved in this. If they need you to do anything, they'll come and find you. Right now, just bask in the glory. Tonight is all about you. Not Luci, not Mike, not me. You. Lemme show you something."

He led Cas out into the middle of the floor and said, "Hit it!"

Music with a pounding beat began playing, and Gabe . . . did something with his arms and legs that looked painful. But there was a huge smile on his face. He gyrated for a few minutes until he realized that Cas was just standing there, looking puzzled.

"What is that you're doing?"

"It's called disco dancing. It's real big about two thousand years from now. C'mon, try it!"

"I don't think so."

"This is your party! You're supposed to be having fun!"

"Not while Mike is torturing Luci!"

"We don't know that's what he's doing. Anyway, it's not our problem. Mike will take care of it. Now dance! Just do what I do, and you should be fine."

He went into the wild gyrations again. Cas tried to watch him and copy his movements, but he wasn't a naturally gifted dancer and he looked awkward next to his brother, who made up in enthusiasm what he lacked in actual talent. But after a while, he began to relax and the movement came easier. This dancing thing was actually fun after all.

Everyone was staring at them.

And not the good kind of staring where they all wish they could have done what you just did. This was the shocked, disbelieving stare of someone who has just seen something impossible happen right in front of them. Cas began to feel uncomfortable, and he stopped dancing and shuffled away toward the drinks table.

Gabe didn't notice and kept on dancing, even as his siblings began to mutter among themselves. He only noticed when the music suddenly stopped-and the music had stopped only because Michael had entered the room.

All the angels simultaneously stood at attention. Eventually Gabe saw where everyone was looking and he stood, if not with precise military bearing, at least a little straighter than he normally did.

"The demons have been expelled from Heaven," Michael announced to his gathered brethren. "Lucifer is secured. The final decision on what to do with him remains with the Father."

"Who isn't here," someone, possibly Balthazar, muttered.

"I have sent a message to him. He is on his way even now."

This set off something of a panic among the angels. The Creator of the Universe did not take His time getting anywhere, so if He was on his way . . .

"We're screwed," said Gabe. "If He finds out that someone let demons into Heaven-"

"He already knows," Michael told him. "But it was no one's fault. There was no one guarding the gate because we didn't **know** the gate would need to be guarded. We were all at the Convocation, and Lucifer just strolled in."

"So it's my fault," Cas said gloomily. He stepped forward. "Whatever needs to be done, let me help. Let me make it right."

Michael looked concerned. "Castiel, you are a novice. You haven't even been through basic training yet. It's not your responsibility."

"I want to do whatever is necessary to help you. But let the Father's will be done. I will do what He commands."

Everyone knew the moment the Father arrived. The whole place lit up like the brightest day on Earth. Where it had been shining white, now Heaven was dazzling, too bright for human eyes to view.

All the angels in the room instantly fell to their knees. "Our Father art in Heaven!" they proclaimed with one voice.

After a moment, Michael got up. "Castiel," he said, "if you truly want to help, come with me now."

Cas got up off his knees and saluted his commander.

"You too, Gabriel."

"Aw, I was having fun! You guys start without me, I'mma get me another drink."

The look Michael gave him made him yelp and run for the door. "I'm going, I'm going!"

Cas was smiling as he followed his brothers to Father's office. He was finally going to see His face.

* * *

They made him wait out in the hall again.

"But I'm not a child anymore!" he protested. "Can't I come in with you?"

"I'm afraid not," Michael said. "We'll let you know what He decides. Raphael is already with Him. Have faith, little brother, and trust us."

"When will I be allowed to see the face of my Father?"

"Not today. I'm sorry."

Cas resigned himself to sitting on the hard bench again, as his brothers went in to consult with their Father. He wanted to listen in on Angel Radio, but had been told that it was forbidden. Today, of all days, he didn't want to break any rules.

The worst part was that he was missing his own party for this. If he'd known he'd be sitting out in the hall again, he would have stayed behind. No, that was childish thinking. He wasn't a child anymore. He was a soldier now, and soldiers followed orders. And he had been ordered to sit here and wait, so sit here and wait he would.

It seemed like forever before the door opened and his brothers came out. Mike and Raph had Lucifer between them, in restraints and gagged for good measure. He turned his head and looked at Cas pleadingly; Cas turned away. Even Luci's eyes were charismatic.

Gabe came and took his arm. "Let's go back to the party before all the drinks are gone."

"What's gonna happen?"

"Well, Luci is being locked out of Heaven forever. Dad has ordered a permanent barrier erected between Heaven and Hell. No more demons on the loose here. He said if Luci causes trouble on Earth, He'll come up with a way to lock him away from there, too. All you need to know is that the problem is being taken care of."

"I wanted to help."

"And you will. Here." Gabe slipped something small and metallic into Cas' hand. "Keep this safe. Let no one know that you have it. We don't know if you'll need to use it yet-or if you'll be **able** to use it-but if you have it, he can't get it."

Cas opened his hand. "That's . . . that's an archangel ring."

"We trust you to hold onto it for now. Don't let it go to your head. Also, don't try it on. Only if we need you to. Until you're told otherwise, you keep it in your pocket, out of sight."

Cas nodded and slipped the ring into an inside pocket. "I hope it doesn't burn a hole in my pocket."

"It won't. By itself, it's just a hunk of metal with pretty designs on it. It takes your grace to activate it."

"Archangel grace. But that's about a thousand times more powerful than mine."

"Don't put yourself down, kiddo. You've come a long way in a short time. I don't expect us to have to use this right away-Luci's not stupid; he'll take years planning his revenge-but if and when we do, you'll need to be ready. Guard this with your life. This may turn out to be the single most powerful weapon in the universe."

Cas waited for the punch line, but there was none. Gabe was being serious for once. "I thought he could only be killed by an archangel blade."

"Oh, this won't kill him. According to what Dad says, anyway. We'll talk more about it later. Right now, we've got a party to finish!"

"Okay," Cas said, "but no more disco dancing."

"Aww!"

* * *

 _(Not the end! More to come! Next up: Cas meets Jesus!)_


	15. And They Called Him Rabbi

If there was one moment that Castiel recognized as his proudest, it would be the time he was in the presence of a man named Yeshua, a carpenter from a small town in an insignificant region of the Middle East who had become a wandering preacher/healer. Cas, however, knew something that some people talked about but not everyone believed: this Yeshua was the Son of God.

He had been there at the very beginning of the man's existence, but it hadn't been planned that way. Gabriel was supposed to go and make the announcement to the young woman chosen as the mother of the Lord, but he hadn't returned yet.

"He's probably all right," Michael said. "He's probably holed up in some bar in Jerusalem. Or, Father forbid, another brothel."

"What's a brothel?" Cas, who was an innocent in the ways of the world, asked him.

"Never mind what it is. You find him and make sure he's done his duty. Then both of you return here at once. Is that clear? Don't let him talk you into a side trip to the twentieth century like that one time."

"We went to a place called New York. It was . . . interesting."

"Hmm. Let's have no interesting things happening this time. Come straight back here, I mean it."

"Yes, sir."

He went down to the place where Gabriel was supposed to find Mary, a place called Nazareth. It wasn't much more than a collection of mud huts, but he soon found the one he wanted. It was the only one with a frustrated archangel sitting on a rock and swearing.

"Cassie!" Gabe hopped off the rock and went to greet his younger brother. "Is that a new vessel? I like it!"

"Have you done what you came for?"

"What, you don't have time for a little small talk? You, the child I raised from a tiny fledgling?"

"My orders were to bring you right back as soon as you had completed your mission."

"Well, see, that's where we have a problem. She won't talk to me."

Cas cocked his head to the side. "What do you mean, she won't talk to you? What did you say to her?"

"I followed the script! I said exactly what they told me to say!"

"And?"

"She threw the water jug at me!"

Cas felt like laughing, but he held back. "Where is she now?"

"Inside. Don't bother knocking, I already tried."

"Who says we have to knock?" Cas appeared directly inside the simple dwelling. Mary was in a room by herself, and she looked startled to see angels suddenly before her. Then she grew angry as she recognized Gabe.

"You! I told you to get lost! You and your cheap lines! God has found favor with me, huh? I bet you say that to all the girls!"

Cas looked at Gabe, who tried to look apologetic. "Okay, so maybe it didn't come out the way I intended it."

With a sigh, Cas said, "Mary, beloved daughter of God, you have been blessed. God Himself has chosen you to be the mother of His Son, and you shall name him Jesus."

"But . . . how can this be, since I have not yet been with a man?"

"You're engaged, aren't you?" Gabe blurted out. "What do they call it here, betrothed? And you haven't-?"

She looked shocked and outraged. "It is forbidden! We cannot have contact until the marriage has been fulfilled!"

"Mary," said Cas, "you must have faith. God will take care of you and your precious Child. He will change the world. But you must trust in His plan. All that you need to do is say yes. The Holy Spirit will do the rest. As He has done for your kinswoman Elizabeth. She who was thought barren is now in her sixth month."

She looked into his face, and saw only kindness and truth reflected there. "I am the handmaiden of the Lord," she said. "Let it be done to me as you say."

The angels departed from her. They reappeared in front of another dwelling a short distance away.

"Thanks for the save, bro," said Gabe. "I hope this is a bar, cause I could sure use a drink."

"No bars, Gabriel. No drinks. And we're only half done. We still have to talk to the husband."

"We do? No one told me about that."

"We've moved forward in time about six months. Mary has just returned from visiting Elizabeth, visibly pregnant. Joseph isn't sure who she's been with, but he knows he can't marry her now. He plans to dissolve the marriage quietly."

"And we have to talk him out of it?"

"You let me do the talking. You're not messing this one up. It's too important."

Joseph was sleeping when they entered his home, so they decided to visit him in his dreams.

"I didn't know you'd been taught to do that yet," Gabe said. "Took me years to master that trick."

"Really? It's not that hard."

"Maybe I was too distracted, having to chase after you all the time."

Cas touched two fingers to the sleeping man's forehead and instantly found himself in the dream.

"Joseph, son of David," he said, "do not be afraid. Mary has not been unfaithful to you. Her body has not been violated. The child she carries was given to her by the grace of God, and must be protected. God has chosen you to be the guardian of His beloved Son. You are a righteous man, a man of faith. You will serve Him well."

"She has not . . . betrayed me?" Joseph asked, bewildered.

"She would not even think of laying with another man. But she trusts in the Lord, as I know you do. Go to her. Welcome her into your home, as your wife, and together you will raise the Child."

Joseph bowed his head. "I will do as you command, Lord."

"Oh, I'm not Him," Cas said. "I am naught but a lowly angel, the last of the angels. I bring you a message of hope. The Child that Mary carries within her will change the world. His name and His message will be remembered until the end of time."

"We should go," said Gabe. "You can pull us out of here, right?"

"I think so." Cas closed his eyes and concentrated. When he opened them again, nothing had changed. "Maybe not."

Gabe shook his head. "You'll get there, little brother." He snapped his fingers, and the two found themselves on the outskirts of the town.

"And now we need to go home," Cas said.

"Wait a minute. We just got here! Let's hang out a bit, soak up the local color-"

"My orders are to bring you straight home. No bars, no brothels."

"It was one time! I just wanted to see what was so bad in Sodom and Gomorrah that they needed to be destroyed!"

"All I know is, we have to leave now. That's what I was told."

Gabe sighed. "Fine." He looked around one last time before they departed. "We can come back, can't we, and see how it all turned out?"

"I'm sure we will. Gabe, we have to go **now**." In that last word was a faint whine, an echo of the impatient child who wanted to go everywhere and see everything at once. It made Gabe smile to himself.

"Okay. Let's go."

* * *

Several years later, as time was counted on Earth, Cas was again summoned before Michael, along with several other angels from his garrison.

"He's gone too far this time," their commander said, without preamble. "It was bad enough when he tempted Adam and Eve to fall. Worse when he corrupted their firstborn. But now-now-he seeks to tempt the Son of God Himself! He must be stopped."

"What are your orders, sir?" asked Uriel.

"We will go to the place where he is and capture him. The Son must not be harmed. His time is not yet come. Protect Him; take Lucifer alive. Bring him back here. The Father has finally come up with a permanent solution to contain him.

"Half of you will come with me. The other half will remain here to guard the gates, just in case he gets away and tries to come here. Yes, Castiel?"

The young angel had his hand raised. "Can I come with you, sir?"

"You're aware that it won't be easy, right? You think Lucifer is just going to come quietly? He'll fight back. He doesn't shy away from killing anyone who gets in his way."

"I'm prepared to lay down my life for Heaven," Cas said solemnly.

"All right, fine. Any other volunteers?"

A few hands went up.

"All of you step forward," said Michael, as he counted them. "And you, you, you, you, and you. Not you, Uriel; I want you here on the West Gate. Daniel, you take the East Gate. Raziel, the North; and Micah and Judah will guard the Main Gate. The rest of you back them up. It's doubtful that we'll need you, but better safe than sorry. Those of you who are with me, to the portal room."

Cas took his place at the head of the line. At last he was finally getting to be part of something important.

The place where Lucifer had taken the Son to tempt Him was far out in the desert, so far that it took a while to find them. The angels arrived just as the man who would one day be known as Jesus was rebuking the Evil One.

"Get thee behind me, Satan! Away with you, tempter! The power of God compels you!"

"Wow," said Ezekiel. "I expected someone . . . weaker. He looks like he could punch Luci straight to Hell."

"He builds houses for a living," said Cas.

"Look at those biceps!" said Gabe, who Cas hadn't known was coming with them. "He doesn't look like his pictures at all."

"Quiet!" Michael ordered them. "We wait here until he moves."

They didn't have to wait long. Lucifer knew when he was beaten, and he didn't like being told off by someone clearly stronger than him. He started to run-

"Now!" Michael commanded, and drew his blade. The angels moved to surround Luci and cut off his escape.

"Hey, guys," he said nonchalantly. "Any chance of a ride home?"

"Funny you should say that."

Luci looked around, his smile fading as he realized what was happening. He drew his blade. "Yeah, don't think so."

Cas and the other angels drew their blades. "You're coming with us. Whether you like it or not."

"Oh, hey, Cassie. Look at you, all grown up. New vessel? I like it!"

Cas said nothing. He knew how Luci liked to work: he'd charm you, get you off your guard, then move in for the kill. It might have worked when Cas was still a fledgling, but he was a soldier now, and not so easily swayed by his brother's flattery.

"Don't you say a word." Gabe moved in front of his younger brother, his own blade raised.

"Hey, Gabey baby. Ever the protector. I'm not gonna hurt the kid. I just wanna talk to him a bit."

"The time for talking is past." Michael stepped forward. "You've gone too far this time, Lucifer, and Father won't stand for it. He's prepared to deal with you once and for all."

"Oh, come on. He'd never let you kill me."

"I didn't say we were going to kill you. Now!"

At the command, the two angels closest to Lucifer moved faster than lightning to put him in restraints. One knocked the blade from his hand.

"We'll take him away," Michael said. "The rest of you stay here and attend to Him. Do whatever He tells you. I'll let you know when it's safe to return."

Cas locked eyes with him for a moment, feeling the weight of the ring hidden in his pocket. "Should I come with you, sir?"

"If I need you, I'll send for you. Stay for now."

Once they were gone, the angels looked to Cas for direction. And he wasn't even the leader of the squad. He indicated that they should follow him, leading them over to where Yeshua reclined on a rock.

Cas knelt before him. The other angels followed suit. "My Lord," he said, bowing his head, "what do you require of us?"

"My friend, arise. All of you, on your feet, please."

They stood and looked at him uncertainly.

"Those who know me best call me Rabbi."

"Teacher," Cas translated for the others. "Rabbi, do you need food and drink? You must be hungry and thirsty after forty days in the desert."

"Just bread and wine, please. Come and join me, all of you."

Cas waved a hand and produced a loaf of bread and a bottle of wine. He brought them to Rabbi Yeshua and then sat at his feet, feeling a sense of serenity and peace that he had only felt in the presence of his Father.

"Do we tell him," asked a young angel named Zuriel, "how it all ends? That he only lives to spread his Word for three years and then dies?"

"He knows," said the squad commander, Alariel. "It's the divinity in him."

"And he's willing to go through with it?"

"Let that be a lesson to you. He knows what must be done, and He is willing to give His life for the Father. He asks no less of you."

"But we don't **have** to die, do we?" asked Nathaniel.

Alariel spread his wings out to shade the group from the hot sun. "If that is what He wants of you. We live by His command. We live to serve Him. And the Son as well."

"May I ask what it is you are talking about?" Yeshua asked them.

They all looked up, startled.

"We-that is-my Lord-Rabbi-" Alariel seemed to be at a loss for words.

"Duty," Cas supplied. "Our duty to our Father. Whether or not we are required to actually die for Him."

"Yes, I know how my story ends. I have seen the cross, in the place of the skull[1], and the tomb of rock. And I have seen what happens next."

"What happens next?" asked Zuriel.

"The glory of the Resurrection," said Castiel. "The conquest of the Spirit over death, and the Ascension to the Father's kingdom. All that makes the cross meaningful. It is Father's way of showing mankind that death is but a bridge to be crossed, to a shining country without pain or fear."

"Couldn't He show them that **without** having to let his Son die?"

They all looked at him.

"Sorry, sorry. Who am I to question the will of the Father?"

"Do not be afraid to ask questions, my friend," said Yeshua. "It is how we learn. If I could, I would let this cup pass without having to drink from it."

"Fine, I'll take it," said Alariel, who finished off the wine.

"But not My will but His be done." He turned to Castiel. "The day will come, my young friend, when you begin to question if all you are told is truly the will of the Father. When that day comes, you must trust in the good and understanding heart that He has given you. Your heart will show you the way."

Cas thought at the time that He was talking about the coming war of the angels. He couldn't have imagined that the time that Yeshua spoke of would be quite some time in the future. "Thank You, Rabbi. I'll keep that in mind."

They sat and talked for some time. The angels didn't need to eat, but Cas took a piece of Yeshua's bread to be polite. It tasted . . . like it needed something, but he wasn't sure what.

Then he heard the call over Angel Radio. They were needed in Heaven. **He** was needed.

He stood, and his squad mates followed suit. "Rabbi," he said, "we have to go. Will You be all right on Your own?"

The Son of God smiled, and the smile warmed Cas' heart. "Yes," he said. "I will find my way back on my own. Thank you for the food and drink, and for keeping me company while I refreshed myself."

Never again, Cas reflected, would he have to ask to see the face of his Father. He had seen it, reflected in his Son.

The angels bowed before Him again, and then they returned to Heaven.

* * *

The first thing Cas did when he arrived home was to go and search out Gabe. He wanted to tell him all about meeting Rabbi Yeshua, and ask what he thought about His advice. But Gabe wasn't in the room they had shared for so many years.

He still lived there; his things were all over the place. Gabriel had never been one for tidiness. There was a paper sitting on the kitchen table which, when Cas examined it, was written in some strange language that he hadn't learned yet. He set it back down and went out looking for his brother.

He found him with the other archangels, in Michael's office.

"Oh, good, Castiel, you're here," his oldest brother said. "I was just about to send for you. You still have . . . what I gave you, don't you?"

"Of course." Cas touched the ring in his pocket, but didn't take it out yet.

"You'll need it. Father has finally created a place to lock Lucifer away once and for all. And we'll need your help to do it."

 _(To be continued!)_

* * *

[1] Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified, translates as "place of the skull".


	16. The Cage

This time he wouldn't be left sitting outside. This time, finally, after so long, Castiel would finally be allowed to see the inside of his Father's office.

He just wished it could be under more pleasant circumstances.

Lucifer had been a thorn in their side for far too long. Not content with creating discord among the angels, he had gone to Earth and corrupted his Father's greatest creation, mankind. From his unauthorized entry into the Garden where he tempted Adam and Eve, to the corruption of their firstborn son, and even going so far as using the space where the Father had confined him as a place to capture and torment human souls, it was clear that there was no going back. He had been banned from Heaven and confined to Hell, but even that was not enough.

Now the Father would have to do the one thing He had held off on doing all this time: build a cell to hold the wayward archangel for all eternity.

This he had done.

Getting him into this cell was another matter. But once they had forced, or tricked, him into the cage, they had the means to lock it and keep him there forever.

That was what Cas was being told, anyway.

He had been close to his Father's office a few times before, but never past the door. Today, however, that would change.

This time, when Michael opened the door and held it for his brothers, he didn't stop Castiel from entering. He held it a moment longer, only closing it when the young angel was inside.

Cas stopped in the doorway and looked around.

The office was so big that he couldn't see the walls, only an endless whiteness that stretched as far as his eye could see. There were a few things he recognized-the workbench where Father created things, a board full of pictures of all the angels at various ages (Cas spotted one of himself sitting on Gabe's lap), some folded robes of an indeterminate size-but most he didn't. He wouldn't have time to ask about them, however, as his brothers were leading him to the place where Father waited for them.

It looked like an ordinary living room set. Couch, end table, two matching armchairs, a wooden chair which looked as if it had been dragged in from another room (this was for him, he knew) . . . it seemed so normal.

The tall-backed chair at the far end of this little arrangement spun around, and for the first time since his birth, Castiel was in the actual presence of his Father.

"Hello, Castiel," He said. "It's so good that you're here. Please, have a seat. We have much to go over before we do what we came for. What have your brothers told you?"

"Well . . . nothing, so far. Sir."

"No need to be formal with me, son. Call me Dad, if you want."

"I . . . I-"

"Or not. That's okay, too. So, nothing at all? Really?" He looked at His older sons, who seemed a bit embarrassed.

"Just that You'd come up with the final solution to the problem of what to do with Lucifer. And I'm supposed to help somehow?"

"You have the ring that Michael gave you? You've kept it safe?"

"Yes, si-Father. It's right here." He patted his pocket.

"Good. Keep that with you. The spell is almost ready, but it won't work from here. You'll have to go down to Earth, find a portal to Hell, and say the spell over the mouth of the Hellgate. Lucifer has to be there too, of course."

"What if he escapes again?"

"He won't," said Raphael. "We have so many binding spells on him right now, he can't even scratch his nose. Have no fear, young one. This will work."

Father passed out sheets of paper. "Here is the spell. Read it and memorize it. You'll have to be perfect when the moment comes."

Cas raised a hand, then remembered he wasn't in school and put it down again.

"Yes, Castiel? You have a question?"

"This part marked with a circle? What's that?"

"That's when you put on the rings."

"Put it . . . on?" No one had mentioned him having to wear it. "But I can't wear an archangel ring! I'm not-not powerful enough!"

Father reached out and closed a hand over his. "You can do this, Castiel. I know you're young, but your grace is strong. I'm not asking you to wear the ring full-time, just for the spell. The spell needs the power of all four rings, and the ring won't work by itself. It needs you to wear it."

"We're reasonably sure it probably won't kill you," said Gabe. "Most likely."

Father turned and gave him a Look.

"What? We can't be a hundred percent sure that it'll work. Maybe ninety-five percent. Ninety-five and a half. Call it ninety-six."

"Gabriel," Michael said, in a tightly controlled voice that suggested he was on the verge of smiting someone, "just. Shut. Up!"

Ninety-six percent. Those were good odds. That meant that there were only four chances out of a hundred that something would go wrong. If they did the spell a hundred times, it would pretty much work all the time. And they would only have to do it once.

Correction: they would only get one chance to do this. So it would have to work. **He** would have to make it work.

He had sworn to lay down his life, if necessary, for the defense of Heaven.

He just hoped that it wouldn't be necessary today.

"How soon do You want us to do this, Father?" Michael asked Him.

"As soon as possible. Today, if you can. Memorize the spell, right now, so that you'll be ready when I tell you to go. I'll bring Lucifer to the old portal chamber; meet me there."

He looked directly at Cas. "You are to tell no one of this, Castiel. No matter how this comes out, your part in this must remain secret. Are you good at keeping secrets?"

"I-I think so, Father."

"Good. This is one you'll keep for all time. Now get to memorizing, and I'll see you later." He was about to leave when He turned back. "Oh, and Castiel?"

"Yes, Father?"

"How is He?"

"Your Son? Don't You know?"

"I've been busy. I try to keep tabs on Him, but, you know . . ."

Cas smiled. "He is devoted to doing Your will."

"How is He as a man? I always worried about that. Is He getting along all right?"

Cas measured his next words carefully. "He heals the sick, makes the blind see and the deaf hear, and some say He has even raised the dead. Everything He does is to the benefit of mankind; though they speak of Him far and wide, He seeks no glory for Himself, only to give glory to You. And they shall worship Him for centuries to come."

His Father smiled. "That's my boy."

* * *

The portal room looked pretty much the same as it had on Cas' last visit, so many years ago. It was still dusty and unused; when he looked down at the floor, he could see the small footprints he had left behind last time. Close to them were some that were a bit larger; those must have been Gabe's. Further off he could see even larger footprints that had to be Luci's.

Luci. What were they going to do to him? While Cas was a good soldier and would follow orders, he wasn't sure he agreed with the idea of locking the archangel away permanently. Still, it was better than killing him.

"What's wrong?" Gabe had drifted over, noticing the young angel's unease.

"I'm just wondering if what we're doing is right."

"I know. I mean, it's Luci. He taught me to fly. He taught **you** to read. I don't want to have to do this . . . but he can't be allowed to get away with what he's done. If you or I had done even half of what he's done? We would have been smited on the spot."

"I think the proper tense is 'smote'."

"Whatever, smarty pants. But because he's Dad's favorite, He just lets it slide time and time again. But he crossed a line that shouldn't be crossed. He messed with Dad's beloved Son, and you just don't **do** that!"

"He picked on the wrong person," Cas agreed. "Rabbi Yeshua didn't let him get away with that."

"Good for Him. What are we waiting for? I thought they were already here!"

"Sorry I'm late." Father arrived, leading Lucifer by the arm. The archangel was shackled but not gagged; surprisingly, he was quiet even so. "I forgot where this place was, if you can believe that. It's been so long since we were here. Do you remember?"

"I remember," Michael said. He looked at Luci meaningfully. "We used to be a family. We loved and supported each other. I haven't forgotten what that was like."

"I remember," said Raphael. "I remember when we all made planets. Mike made the big one with the red spot, and I made the one with all the rings, and Luce made a few medium-sized ones, and Gabriel made the teeny tiny one."

"Well, there wasn't much left to work with by the time I got my turn," Gabe protested. "And you made me stick it way out at the far end of the solar system."

"It's a very nice planet," Father said. He looked at Luci. "Lucifer, I'm giving you one last chance to repent. We love you and want you to come back to us, but this behavior cannot continue. If you refuse to change, if you go on creating chaos and discord everywhere you go . . . then I'll have no choice but to lock you away in Hell forever."

Luci said nothing, his eyes on the floor.

"Don't you have anything to say to us?"

"Why should I? You've already condemned me. What difference will it make now?"

"I am willing to forgive you, but only if you-"

"What? Beg for it? Fall on my knees and grovel? Nope, not happening."

"I remember," said Gabriel, "a brother who would do anything for me. Who let me sleep curled up next to him. Who held me up in the air so I could practice flying, when I was still very small. Who always knew just how to make me smile when I was feeling down. What happened to that guy? I miss him."

"He's dead," Luci said with bitterness in his voice. "He died of neglect when you all found new toys to play with. You brought this on yourselves. I'm not apologizing, because **I'm** not the one to blame here."

Cas wanted to say something to change Luci's mind, but he couldn't think of a single thing. He could only stand and watch sadly as the drama played out in front of him.

"You leave me no choice, then," Father said. "Step on the pad, all of you."

Michael took hold of the chain binding Luci's wrists and yanked on it, leading him along. The others followed behind him.

"I'm going to send you down now," Father said. "You'll have an hour to recite both spells: the one that opens the Cage, and the one to close it again. They shouldn't take that long. Bring the rings back to me when you're finished. I have plans for them."

"You're not coming?" Michael asked.

"I can't." He looked at Lucifer. "I'm so sorry, my son. But you leave me no choice."

He pressed the sequence that would activate the portal. The room shimmered and vanished, and Cas found himself standing on soft grass, in a place . . .

. . . that looked familiar.

 _I've been here before_.

Gabe was looking at him. "What's wrong?"

"I think I've been here before. I feel like . . . something bad happened here."

"Maybe you're remembering something that hasn't happened yet. Our memories don't work in a straight line. You could be remembering something that happens centuries from now."

"Really?"

"In which case, you'll be ready for it, and you'll be here to help when the bad thing happens." He smiled. "That's why you're here. To help. Get that ring ready, now."

"Put it on?"

"Not yet. Not till we open the Hell Gate. That **is** what we're doing now, isn't it?" he asked Michael.

The elder archangel nodded. "There are three incantations: Opening, Binding, and Closing. Did you memorize them all?"

"No, but I brought the cheat sheet." He unfolded it and held it up so the others could read from it.

Lucifer stared at them with panicked eyes. This was suddenly becoming real. "Don't do this," he begged. "Mikey, my big brother who always takes care of me . . ."

"Oh, **now** you want to talk. **Now** , when your butt is on the line, you get nostalgic. Well, it's too late, little brother. Begin."

They began the first incantation even as Lucifer pleaded with them to stop. Cas recited the Enochian along with his brothers until the ground in front of them fell away, revealing a hole with no bottom.

"Who gets the honor of shoving him in?" Gabe asked.

Luci turned to him. "Gabriel, my precious boy. Please don't do this. Haven't I always taken care of you?"

In response, Gabe turned his back.

Luci's eyes fell on Cas. "Castiel," he said, "you were never meant to be a soldier. Have mercy on me, baby brother. Give me my ring back, and I'll go away. For good. Don't let them lock me away! I promise I won't hurt anyone ever again!"

Cas started to speak, but Michael looked at him, and he closed his mouth and said nothing. He didn't want to make things worse.

"I'll do it," Raph said. "Luce, you know you brought this on yourself. Take your punishment like a grownup." He reached out and knocked Luci into the hole.

"Put the ring on now!" Michael instructed. Cas took it out of his pocket and slipped it on. The only finger it would fit was the middle finger of his left hand. It sat crookedly, but no one had said it had to be perfect.

They began the second incantation, the one that bound Lucifer inside the cage. Halfway through, the ring started to heat up on Cas' finger. It was really uncomfortable, but he was determined to get through this and not let his brothers down.

Sparks started dancing across the surface of the ring. It was burning him, and he knew it was because his grace was insufficient. He didn't have the grace of an archangel. He couldn't do this. The ring would burn off his finger and the spell would fail. He couldn't-

A hand slipped into his free hand and grasped it. He looked up and saw Gabe smiling at him even as he kept up the recitation. Cas felt his brother's grace flowing into and augmenting his . . . but it was not enough.

Michael put a hand on his right shoulder, and Raphael his left. Their grace helped him power through the burning pain.

Castiel didn't have the grace and power of an archangel. He had three. His brothers lent their power to him in order to finish the spell, and it worked. The Cage shut with a clang. All that was left was the closing spell, and that was a breeze.

When it was over, Cas pulled the ring off his finger and flung it into the grass, where it smoked and nearly set the grass alight. He rubbed at the red circle around his middle finger and finally released the pain he had been holding back as he collapsed onto the ground near where the hole had been.

* * *

"Cassie! Talk to me, baby! Cas, can you hear me?"

Cas opened his eyes to see Gabe leaning over him looking worried. "What happened?"

"You passed out. Guess the power was too much for you. You did it, though. You did it!"

" **We** did it. I couldn't have done it without you."

He tried to get up, but when he placed his left hand on the ground, the burning pain radiated up his arm. It felt like his whole hand was on fire now.

"Let me see that." Raphael knelt beside him and reached for the injured hand. "I can heal this for you."

"But . . . but it was archangel power that did this."

"Trust me on this, little brother. The power can destroy, but it can also rebuild. Let me help you."

Raph closed his fingers over Cas' hand, and it was like cool water flowing over him, quenching the fire, giving him peace and sweet relief. He closed his eyes and let out his breath in a long sigh.

"That feels good," he said. "Thanks, Raph."

"We should go now." His older brother helped Cas to his feet, and they rejoined the others.

"Grab the ring," Michael said. "Just put it in your pocket for now. Father will need it later."

"For what?" Cas asked, but the question was never answered. He picked the ring, still warm, off the grass and shoved it in his pocket just as the portal opened and they went home.

He thought it was over. They all thought it was over.

But this was just the beginning.


	17. The Aftermath

_(And now, sadly, our story is over. Well, except for the epilogue. I want to thank everyone who's read, reviewed, favorited, and followed this story. You guys are awesome!)_

* * *

It was done.

Lucifer was bound inside the Cage, trapped in Hell forever. The power of the archangels had imprisoned him, and Cas had actually wielded the ring of an archangel and survived. Not just any angel could do that. Maybe everyone was right and he **was** special.

They'd done it. It was a great victory for Heaven.

So why was he feeling so depressed?

They returned to Heaven with no victory parade, no fanfare, no cheering crowds. No one even knew what they had done. No one would ever know.

The portal room looked sad and lonely now, empty as it was. The dust at Cas' feet swirled when he walked through it. He wondered how he was going to just go back to his normal life after doing something like this. This was a big thing. Maybe the biggest thing he had ever done.

The ring was warm in his pocket. He wanted to pull it out and throw it away, but Father had said to hang onto it. He would have need of it later. What was He planning to do?

Cas watched as Michael went to the instrument panel that controlled the transport, drew his blade, and thrust it through the dials and switches with a loud outcry. Sparks flew, like the sparks that had come from the ring while Cas was still wearing it. He pulled the sword out and drove it into a different spot, screaming all the while.

"What the heck are you doing?" Gabe demanded.

Michael looked up at him. "No one will ever use this room again," he declared. "Its purpose is finished. Help me destroy all this."

"Why? Why can't we just leave it? No one else knows it's here."

"Just do it!" He attacked the control panel again and again, stabbing it like an enemy, and now Cas got it. He was working out his frustration on the thing that he blamed for taking his brother away from him.

Gabe snapped his fingers and produced a large hammer. "Hope Thor doesn't mind me borrowing this," he said.

"Who's Thor?" Cas asked.

"Pagan god. I know his brother. You need a sledgehammer? Maybe a shovel?" He snapped again, and a long-handled shovel with dried brown stains on the blade appeared against one wall.

Cas picked it up. He moved toward the secondary computer bank, lifted the shovel, and swung it down. There was a clang and a crunching sound. He swung it again and again, not really thinking about what he was doing. He thought about Luci standing on the rim of the Hell Gate, pleading for his life. He thought about how things had been, way back when.

For no reason at all, he found himself singing a song that Luci had often sung to him. "Carry on my wayward son, there'll be peace when you are done . . ."

But would there? Would there ever be peace in Heaven again?

"Lay your weary head to rest . . ."

He wanted to cry. He wanted to put his head down and just sleep for a thousand years, or a hundred thousand.

"Don't you cry no more," Gabe finished with him. He dropped the hammer and came over, putting his arms around his little brother. "It's okay, Cassie. It's gonna be okay."

Raphael, who had been systematically dismantling the pad, drifted over and embraced both of them. "It's over, little ones. It's all over now. Everything will be all right."

All Cas could do was cry, standing there in the circle of Gabe's arms.

Eventually Michael noticed, and he came over and joined the group hug. They stood like that for a long time. It might have been hours, or days, but when they finally broke free, the light hadn't changed.

"Come on," Mike said. "Let's go find Father."

* * *

He wasn't in His office.

He wasn't in His private quarters, either. Cas had been surprised that the Creator of the Universe, who never slept, had a bedroom. There was a bed and everything. It was all so quaint that he wanted to laugh.

He wasn't in the central administrative offices of Heaven; Naomi, who had been recently Assigned there, told them she hadn't seen Him for days. "I wasn't aware He was back," she said. "No one ever tells me anything. They don't respect me!"

"Gee, I wonder why," Gabe remarked.

Naomi glared at him. "At least **I** do something **useful** around here!"

"Yeah, sure, keep telling yourself that. Have fun typing and filing, babe." As they left, he said, "Well, she hasn't changed, has she?"

They finally found Him in the garden, under Lucifer's tree. He was sitting very still, a green and yellow butterfly perched on one finger.

"I've always been so proud of these," He said. "They start life in one form, go through some big changes, and become this. It reminds us that everyone can change, for the better."

"Almost everyone," Michael said.

"He could have. He chose not to. It's nobody's fault but his own. It's done, then?"

"Yes, Father." They knelt on the grass before Him.

"Come sit, all of you. You too, Castiel. You did very well, My son. Come sit, right here." He patted a patch of thick grass right next to Him, and Cas, ever the obedient child, came and sat.

"We have the rings, Father." Raphael handed his over. Michael followed suit, and then Gabriel. When they turned and looked at him, Cas realized it was his turn. He fished the ring out of his pocket and handed it to his Father.

"Very good. The rings of power will go to four beings whom I will create, who will ride out during the Final Battle at the end of the world."

"What?" Gabe was staring at Him in shock. "I thought we were done here! I thought this **was** the final battle!"

"Oh, no. There's still more to come. A lot more. At the end of the world, Lucifer will rise, and his dark forces will fight the forces of Heaven for supremacy."

"No . . . I can't do this again. I can't!"

"You have to. I have seen it, and it will be. You must be there at the end of all things-"

"I can't! You said this was the end of it! I can't do this again!" He turned and fled the garden suddenly.

"Gabe!" Cas started to go after him, but Father called to him and he stopped in his tracks.

"Castiel. Let him go. Everything will be all right. You have a job to do now."

"What job?"

Father leaned in close to him, and he said, "Have faith."

Cas waited for more, but it seemed that was it. "Have faith?"

"It seems like such a simple thing, but it can be difficult in the face of trials. I have seen what's in store for you, Castiel, and one day, you will do great things. But you must trust in the Plan, and believe in yourself."

"Even if what I want doesn't seem to be Your will?"

"I gave you free will, Castiel, so that you would not obey blindly, but follow Me out of love. I also gave you an understanding heart that always knows what the true path is. No matter how wrong it may seem to you, trust in Me. Trust in yourself. You know what to do. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

"That sounds like what He said."

"Who?"

"Your Son."

"Well, He **is** a chip off the old block. Go back to the barracks now, Castiel. Do your duty, but always keep your mind and your heart open. In the end, you will be rewarded."

He stood up, brushing dirt off His robes. "Michael, you can take charge of things while I'm gone, right?"

"Gone? Where are You going, Father?"

"Oh, just on a little vacation. I'll be back before you know it. I expect to find this place looking just the way I left it." He leaned against Lucifer's tree for a second, but pulled away with a jerk. "Ow! That's hot!"

"The trees **are** connected to us," Cas said with growing horror. "It's burning because he's burning, down Below."

"It'll be fine. I'll tell Joshua to put a rope around it or something." Father looked at his sons with resignation in His eyes. "No regrets," He said. "We did what had to be done."

Then He was gone. Just like that. He was often gone from Heaven, sometimes for thousands of years at a time, but this felt . . . different. It felt final. Like He wasn't coming back.

"Well," Mike said, getting up as well, "you heard Him. We've got work to do."

* * *

Cas looked all over Heaven for Gabe, but he couldn't find him anywhere. Not in the Communications Hub, where he got his orders. Not in the Library, or the Administrative Building ("Can't you keep track of **anyone**?" Naomi griped), or in the Main Square. He wasn't near the human areas or the dark, secret parts of Heaven where no one else would go.

In desperation, Cas tried his room. He probably wasn't there either—he wasn't there often—but he was hoping that there might be some clue as to where he had gone.

There was nothing.

The room was empty.

Not even the furniture remained, except for the couch which was too big and heavy to move easily. On the end of the couch, balled up in what looked like an aborted folding attempt, was . . .

Cas' old animal blanket.

He picked it up. It was still warm. Gabe **had** been here, not that long ago, but now he was gone. And he hadn't left a single trace behind.

Cas sat down on the couch as all the strength went out of his legs. He clutched the blanket to him and cried.

He'd lost two brothers today. And his Father. And now Mike and Raph would be so busy running things that they wouldn't have any time for him.

He was alone.

He didn't know how long he sat there crying into the balled-up blanket. It felt like days. But surely not; surely he would have been missed.

He didn't want to go back to the barracks. He didn't want to go anywhere or do anything again. His family had broken into pieces, and there was nothing left.

Someone knocked at the door.

Cas raised his head, wondering what time it was. It felt late. Or early. Or so late it was early. He spread the blanket out along the back of the couch so it would dry, and got up to answer the door.

"I thought you'd be here," Uriel said. "Where's Gabriel?"

"That's what I'd like to know. I can't find him. I think . . . I think he's gone for good."

"Maybe he just went with the Father. On a secret mission." Uri's eyes lit up as he painted a picture, with his words, of the kind of exciting secret mission that God might need Gabe for. "I mean, he's the coolest archangel, right? Mike's kinda stuffy, and Raph's . . . just there. They're not as cool as Gabe."

"Yeah, he is cool." It wasn't fair! For so long, Gabe had been there, morning and night, watching over Cas. Even when he wasn't **actually** there, his presence was felt. But not now. Now he was completely, utterly, and totally gone.

What was Cas gonna do now?

"He'll be back. And he'll tell you all about his amazing adventures, and then he'll ask what you've been up to. You've gotta have something awesome to tell him."

"Awe . . . some?" The word was unfamiliar.

"It's a word humans use. It means really amazing, incredible, wonderful, great! Pick one. You come with me now and we'll go do some awesome stuff to tell him about later. Okay?"

Cas didn't know what to do. He thought he understood what Uriel was talking about, but he wasn't really sure of anything anymore.

Uri got down on his knees and looked Cas straight in the eye. "Make him proud of you," he said. "Make all of us proud of you. Be the best soldier in the garrison. In the legion, even. I know you can do it. Now come on. If you miss check-in they'll come looking for you, and it's a black mark on your record."

Okay. Small steps. He could do this. Step one: get up off the couch. He pressed the balls of his feet into the floor and gradually raised himself into a standing position. Done.

"What's that?" Uriel peered at the blanket still in Cas' arms.

"Oh. It's, um, my baby blanket."

"You bringing it with you?"

For a moment, Cas almost said yes. He'd had the blanket his whole life; it was as much a part of him as his blue eyes or black wings. But it was a **baby** blanket, and he hadn't been a baby for millions of years. "No," he said, dropping it back onto the couch. "I don't need it anymore."

"Maybe you should fold it up and put it away, in case you change your mind."

"Fine." He put it on the top shelf of the closet, which was as empty as the rest of the room. It was the first time he could remember actually seeing the back of the closet; Gabe had kept so much stuff crammed in here that all you could see when you opened the door was assorted junk, piled up from the floor almost to the ceiling. All that was gone now.

So he wasn't coming back.

Maybe not ever.

Uri slipped an arm around his shoulders. "C'mon, Castiel, let's go do something awesome."

Cas let himself be led out of the room, and back to the barracks. He never set foot in that room again. Too busy being awesome. It took him less than a decade to rise from brand-new recruit to garrison commander. He led armies into battle time and again, and was always victorious.

Once he battled a legion of demons in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and he had that feeling again, the feeling that he was in a place where he'd been before, even though he hadn't yet. He **knew** this spot, although he remembered it looking completely different. He didn't have much time to think about it, though, as the demon battle took up all of his attention. By the time he returned to the barracks, he had forgotten about it.

It was several years later when Michael came to him and told him that he had a very special job for him. A job that only the best and the brightest could do.

"What is it?" Cas asked.

Michael sat there, in his shining office, and he said, "We need you to pull a righteous man out of Hell."

And just like that, everything changed.


	18. Epilogue

"I wish I was back in a TV show," Dean said, his hand on the car door.

"Yeah," said Sam. "Me too."

"You comin' with us, Cas?" Dean asked, before turning around and seeing no one there. "Where'd he go? He was right behind us."

* * *

Castiel had gone back inside the warehouse, where Gabriel, dripping wet in the shower from the sprinklers, was trying in vain to snap his fingers.

"Oh, come on!" he exclaimed. He looked up and saw Cas. "Hey, Cassie. Little help here?"

For a moment, Cas almost turned and left his brother there. It would have served him right for what he had done. But in the end, compassion prevailed, and he raised a hand. The flow of water dwindled to a trickle and then stopped.

"Thanks, bro," Gabe said.

Cas put a hand to the archangel's head and he was suddenly completely dry. "Are you going to leave now? Again?"

"Yeah, thought you might still be mad, babe."

"You left me! Without even saying goodbye! I came back and you were just gone—no note, no explanation, nothing! I thought you were dead! Everyone thought you were dead!"

"Yeah, about that . . . I wanted to say goodbye. I wanted to see you one last time, but I knew that if I did . . . if I did, I would never be able to leave you. I love you, kiddo. Always have, always will."

"Then why did you hurt my friends?"

Gabriel tried to look innocent. "I didn't know they were your friends! And by the way, they've killed me about three times."

"You let them think you were dead. They didn't know what you were."

"Took them long enough to figure it out! I thought I'd have to go the whole fluffy-wings-and-halo route to pound it into their thick heads. Between the two of them, they don't have half a brain."

Cas felt rage rising within him, and it took all he could do to keep it contained. "They're smart enough not to get involved in our private family squabble."

"They're just postponing the inevitable. It's gonna happen. You know it, I know it, they know it . . . it's a done deal. With or without them. They might as well make it easy on themselves and play along."

"They don't want to."

Gabe looked around the dingy, dreary, deserted warehouse. "Wanna get out of here?" he asked.

"And go where?"

Gabe grinned. "I know the perfect place! Take my hand, Cassie. Just like the old days."

"I am not a toddler anymore," Castiel protested, but he took his brother's hand anyway.

Gabe snapped the fingers of his free hand, and in the blink of an eye, the warehouse was gone, replaced by . . . the seaside?

"Where are we?" Cas asked.

Gabe, who was now wearing a striped jacket and straw boater, smiled. "Coney Island," he said. "Nineteen twenty . . . ish. One of my favorite places to go and just relax. Want some cotton candy? It's really good here."

"Cotton . . . candy?" Cas cocked his head to the side in that adorable way he did when he was perplexed.

"Spun sugar on a stick! The twentieth century has all the best food! C'mon!"

They made their way to a cart selling the miraculous confection, and Gabe ordered two. The man handed him two cones full of a fluffy pink substance that didn't look to Cas like food at all. In return, Gabe handed over two small silver coins.

"Just let it melt on your tongue," Gabe said, demonstrating. "Best thing ever!"

Cas wasn't so sure. He licked at the fibrous treat and didn't really like the taste of it. "I don't think so."

"Don't want it? I'll have it."

"Gabriel, why are we here?"

"I thought we could use some alone time. Don't worry, I'll bring you right back to the moment we left. Bert and Ernie won't even know you're gone."

"Who are Bert and Ernie?"

Gabe shook his head. "What a deprived childhood you had. Oh, wait—not really. You got to see the beginning of everything. Remember this?"

He snapped his fingers, and they disappeared.

* * *

It wasn't a pretty beach. There was no gleaming white sand, no seashells to collect. There was only a place where the churning sea met the volcanic land, and at the water's edge, a toddler angel with black hair and black fluffy wings splashed in the waves.

"Castiel!" his oldest brother called. "Come here!"

Cas ignored him and kept playing in the water.

"Cassie!" Gabe called him.

The grownup Gabriel watched this scene with some amazement. "I can't believe I was ever that little," he said. "I remember **you** being that little, but not me."

"You were a child," said Cas, "taking care of a child."

The child in question raised his head and looked up. For a moment, he seemed to be looking directly at his adult counterpart. But that was impossible. An adult angel could have sensed the presence of another, but not one who was the equivalent of a human two-year-old.

"Castiel, come here now!" Michael called again.

The child came running, taking young Gabriel's hand.

"Now watch. You don't want to miss this."

"Here it comes," adult Gabe said. "Remember this?"

"I remember."

All of a sudden, a dark shape heaved itself out of the sea onto the shore. It lay there gasping for a few seconds, and then slowly wriggled forward.

"Bam!" Gabe slammed his fist into his palm.

Little Castiel was watching with his jaw hanging open. "The fishie jumped outta the water!" he squealed. "Mikey, the fishie jumped outta the water!"

"Yes, I saw him."

Gabe was laughing. "Oh my Dad, your face! Absolutely priceless!"

The child broke free of his brother's grip and started to run towards the struggling fish, but Michael held him back. "No, no, no! Don't step on that fish, Castiel. Big plans for that fish."

"I pet the fishie?"

"No, you can't pet him. Just stay away."

Lucifer came plodding over through the wet sand. "I can't find any trilobites," he said.

"That's because there aren't any," said Michael. "They're extinct now."

"You mean you—why didn't you tell me?"

"I had to keep you busy somehow."

Luci sighed and shook his head. "Hey, what's that thing?"

"Fishie jumped outta the water!" Cas proclaimed.

"Can I poke it with a stick?"

"No!" Mike and Gabe said.

"No touch the fishie," Cas contributed.

"That fish," Michael explained, "is the most important fish that ever lived. Eons from now, we will look back on this as the moment when everything changed."

"Yeah, whatever." Lucifer picked up a rock and threw it. It landed with a splash in the sea.

The adult Cas watched this with longing, remembering the days when everything was so simple, and his brothers looked out for him instead of fighting amongst themselves. "Why did you bring me here, Gabriel?"

Gabe looked down at the fish, crawling across the wet sand for the first time. "I always admired that little guy. He took a chance. He took the leap of faith into the unknown. Just like you did."

"I did? When?"

"When you decided to throw your lot in with the Winchesters. You had to know you were taking a big risk, defying Heaven. How's it working out for you so far?"

Cas turned away and said nothing.

"Well, don't feel so bad. You have to take the risk to change the world. Where do you think we'd be right now if that little fish hadn't decided to go see what it was like on land?"

"I see your point."

"You be the fishie, Cas. Take the risk. Make that leap of faith. Because in the end, it's worth it. I have always had faith in you. I knew from the very first time I saw you that you were destined for something special. Well, this is it, bro. Go out there and make me proud."

He reached out and gave his brother a hug. Cas was surprised at first, but then returned the gesture. It felt like goodbye. Maybe it was.

"Now take me back, please," he said.

"Oh, we never left." Gabe snapped his fingers, and the warehouse reappeared around them. "Your friends are waiting for you. Do me a favor? Don't let them boss you around too much. You do what your heart tells you."

"I will."

"See you around, bro." Gabe smiled and then vanished.

Cas stared at the damp scorch mark on the floor where the circle of holy oil had burned, just moments ago. He thought about cotton candy and trilobites and promises made and broken. He wondered what Rabbi Yeshua would have thought about all this.

Then he heard Dean calling him and he stepped outside.

* * *

"There you are! Where'd you go?"

"Inside," Cas said, trying to keep his tone and his face neutral. "I had to check on something."

"You comin' with us, or what?"

There was no hesitation at all as he replied, "I am with you. Always. Until the end of the world."

He opened the back door of the Impala, and there was something on the seat. He reached over and picked it up. It was his animal blanket, a bit faded (and after billions of years, it was a miracle that it was still intact at all) but still here.

There was a square of paper sitting on top of it. He didn't have to read the signature to know who it was from.

 _Hey kiddo,_

 _Thought you might need this. Always remember who you are. See you again soon._

 _Forever my baby._

 _Love,_

 _G._

"What's that?" Sam asked, looking over his shoulder into the back seat.

"Nothing." Cas folded up the note and the blanket and stuffed them into a pocket dimension where he would always have them.

The black Impala drove on, down the road that never seemed to end.


End file.
